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Infections with beta-genus human papillomaviruses (HPVs) have been associated with nonmelanoma skin cancers, particularly in immunocompromised patients and individuals with a rare genetic disease, epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV). Using a transgenic mouse model, Herbert Pfister's group determined that expression of the HPV8 E2 gene results in skin cancer development and that this process is greatly accelerated by UV irradiation (Pfefferle et al., 2008, this issue).

The signal transduction pathway regulated by the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein, pRB, is abrogated in the majority of human cancers. Using a series of cell lines derived from oral squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) that were not subjected to radiation or chemotherapy treatment, we detected specific hyperactivity of cyclin dependent kinase (cdk) 6 but not cdk4. Subcellular localization studies showed a predominant nuclear localization of cdk6, demonstrating that this kinase was biologically active. The molecular basis for this aberration are mutations in the MTS1 locus of chromosome 9p21. This locus encodes two partially overlapping genes, the cdk inhibitor p16(ink4a), and p14(ARF), an inhibitor of mdm2-mediated degradation of p53. Our analysis demonstrates that the mutations of the MTS1 locus in oral SCC specifically target expression of the p16(ink4a) gene but less frequently affect p14(ARF). These results suggest that hyperactivity of cdk6 represents a distinct mechanism for pRB inactivation in oral SCC.

The effect of the human papillomavirus (HPV) oncogenes E6 and E7 was examined in transgenic mice with a construct containing the human beta-actin promoter regulating HPV16 E6 and E7 open reading frames. In the sole line of mice that transmitted the transgene, neuroepithelial tumors appeared at 2.5 months of life, and by 10 months, 87 of 122 (71%) of the animals were dead from brain tumors. The most frequent type of tumor (74%) was an anaplastic neuroepithelial tumor associated with the ependyma of the third and fourth ventricles, which locally invaded adjacent brain tissue and spread for considerable distances along the ventricular surface. The other two types of tumor were well-differentiated choroid plexus carcinomas (26%) and rare pituitary carcinomas (8.7%). HPV16 E6 RNA and E7 oncoprotein expression were demonstrated in tumor tissue and primary cell lines derived from the tumors. Examination of two tumor suppressor gene products, the retinoblastoma protein and p53, known to bind to HPV16 E7 and E6 oncoproteins, respectively, showed both were expressed in the primary tumor cell lines. These data support a causative role for the HPV oncoproteins in epithelial carcinogenesis.