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Journal of Virology, July 2005, p. 9296-9300, Vol. 79, No. 14
0022-538X/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.79.14.9296-9300.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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Michael A. D'silva,1,
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Petric Kuballa,1,
Karin Butz,2
Felix Hoppe-Seyler,2 and
Martin Scheffner1*
Center for Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, 50931 Cologne, Germany,1 Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Im Neuenheimer Feld 242, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany2
Received 27 September 2004/ Accepted 31 March 2005
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Continuous expression of E6 and E7, the two major HPV oncoproteins, is required for the maintenance of the transformed phenotype of cervical cancer cell lines (28). On the functional level, E6 has p53-dependent as well as p53-independent antiapoptotic properties (22). Indeed, interference with E6 expression or E6 activity results in the induction of apoptosis in HPV-positive cells, which is accompanied by a significant increase in p53 levels (6, 7). Similarly, the downregulation of E6-AP expression by antisense approaches or overexpression of a catalytically inactive E6-AP mutant results in the accumulation of p53 in HPV-positive cells but not in HPV-negative cells (4, 26). Moreover, ribozyme-mediated reduction of E6-AP expression enhances the apoptotic response of HeLa cells, an HPV-18-positive cell line, to the DNA damage-inducing drug mitomycin C (16). However, since E6-AP has been implicated in E6-mediated degradation of proteins other than p53 (e.g., E6TP1 and hScrib) (9, 21), it remains unclear if this apoptosis-enhancing effect is directly linked to the ability of E6-AP to target p53 for degradation in the presence of E6.
To determine if the presence of E6-AP contributes to the antiapoptotic function of E6, HPV-positive cells were transfected with small interfering (si) RNAs (8) directed against E6-AP, renilla luciferase, or Hdm2 and the effects of the different siRNAs on p53 levels and cell viability determined at various time points after transfection (Fig. 1). Treatment of SiHa cells (HPV-16 positive) and HeLa cells (HPV-18 positive) with siRNAs directed against either renilla luciferase or Hdm2 had no significant effect on either p53 protein levels or cell viability, supporting the notion that Hdm2 plays no role or only a minor role in p53 degradation in HPV-positive cells (12). In contrast, treatment of both cell lines with E6-AP-specific siRNAs targeting all known isoforms of E6-AP (27) resulted in p53 accumulation and had significant effects on cell viability starting at day 2 or 3 after transfection (Fig. 1A and C and data not shown). Treatment with E6-AP siRNA1 (directed against nucleotides 69 through 87 of the open reading frame; the numbering referring to E6-AP isoform 1, with nucleotide 1 referring to A of the start codon) resulted in efficient induction of apoptosis (Fig. 1C), with only 3 to 5 percent of the cells remaining by 4 days posttransfection. Transfection of E6-AP siRNA2 (nucleotides 300 through 318) also interfered with cell viability of HPV-positive cells but slightly less efficiently than E6-AP siRNA1, with 15 to 20 percent of the cells remaining by 5 to 6 days posttransfection with no overt signs of apoptosis (data not shown). The reason for this difference in killing efficiency is presently unknown but may be explained by slightly different efficiencies of the siRNAs used in downregulating E6-AP levels. In this context, it should be noted that, while this work was under consideration, Kelley et al. (15) reported that downregulation of E6-AP results in the accumulation of p53 levels in HPV-positive cells and, under certain conditions, in the induction of apoptosis.
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FIG. 1. Downregulation of E6-AP expression by RNA interference induces accumulation of p53 and interferes with the viability of HPV-positive cancer cell lines. Synthetic siRNAs specific for E6-AP (si-E6-AP), Hdm2 (si-Hdm2), or renilla luciferase (si-control) were transfected into the HPV16-positive cell line SiHa (A and B) and the HPV18-positive cell line HeLa (C and D) as described previously (7, 17). (A and C) Levels of p53 and induction of apoptosis (terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling [TUNEL]) were determined 24 h (d1) and 96 h (d4) after transfection by fluorescence analysis (7, 17). In addition, cells were visualized by phase-contrast microscopy (PC) and nuclei by use of DAPI (4',6'-diamidino-2-phenylindole). (B and D) Levels of E6-AP and Hdm2 were determined by Western blot analysis at 48 h posttransfection (11). Note that the levels of Hdm2 in HeLa cells are too low to be reproducibly detected under the conditions used.
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FIG. 2. siRNAs against E6-AP do not affect the growth of HPV-negative cells. Synthetic siRNAs specific for E6-AP (si-E6-AP), Hdm2 (si-Hdm2), or renilla luciferase (si-control) were transfected into the HPV-negative cell line MCF-7, which expresses endogenous wild-type p53. (A) Levels of p53 and induction of apoptosis (terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling [TUNEL]) were determined 24 h (d1), 72 h (d3), or 96 h (d4) after transfection by fluorescence analysis (7, 17). In addition, cells were visualized by phase-contrast microscopy (PC) and nuclei by use of DAPI. (B) Levels of E6-AP and Hdm2 were determined by Western blot analysis at 48 h posttransfection (11). (C) E6-AP mRNA levels were determined at 48 h posttransfection by relative quantitative reverse transcription-PCR analysis (for further details, see reference 7). The primer pair used amplifies an mRNA region that is shared by all known E6-AP isoforms (27) and results in a 750-bp amplification product. As an internal standard, 18S rRNA was amplified (488 bp).
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FIG. 3. Stable knockdown of p53 expression in HeLa cells by RNA interference. To generate HeLa cells in which p53 expression is stably suppressed by RNA interference, HeLa cells were transfected with pSUPER-p53 (5) together with a vector expressing the neomycin resistance gene. Cells stably containing the expression constructs were selected by resistance to neomycin and single-cell clones established. (A) Protein extracts were prepared (11) from various single-cell clones and p53 levels determined by Western blot analysis using mouse monoclonal DO-1. (B) Parental HeLa cells (par.) and the single-cell clones HA1 and HC2 were treated for 24 h with 5 nM actinomycin D (ActD) or, as a control, with dimethyl sulfoxide (). Levels of p53 were determined by immunofluorescence (p53). In addition, cells were visualized by phase-contrast microscopy (PC) and nuclei by use of DAPI. (C) Parental HeLa cells (par.) and the clones HA1 and HC2 were treated for 24 h with 2.5 nM or 5 nM actinomycin D (ActD) as indicated or, as a control, with dimethyl sulfoxide (). Levels of p53 were determined by Western blot analysis. (D) Levels of the HPV-18 E7 protein in parental HeLa cells (par.) and the clones HA1 and HC2 were determined with a polyclonal anti-E7 antibody by Western blot analysis as described previously (7). Extracts prepared from HPV-negative C33-A cells (C33) served as negative controls.
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The p53-null clones HA1 and HC2 were transfected with E6-AP-specific siRNAs and the effects of E6-AP downregulation on accumulation of p53 and on cell viability determined (Fig. 4). As expected, p53 was not detectable in the p53-null cells even 4 days after transfection (Fig. 4A). Remarkably, downregulation of E6-AP with E6-AP siRNA1 and E6-AP siRNA2 did not interfere with the viability of p53-null HeLa cells (Fig. 4A). Furthermore, no signs of apoptosis in the p53-null cells under conditions in which apoptosis in parental HeLa cells was significantly induced were observed. Both the transfection efficiencies (Fig. 4B) and the efficiencies of siRNA-mediated downregulation of E6-AP levels (Fig. 4C) were similar for p53-null cells and parental HeLa cells.
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FIG. 4. Downregulation of E6-AP expression does not interfere with the growth of p53-null HeLa cells. (A and C) E6-AP-specific synthetic siRNAs were transfected into HeLa cells (par.) and the p53-null clones HA1 and HC2. Levels of p53 and induction of apoptosis (terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling [TUNEL]) were determined 24 h (d1) and 96 h (d4) after transfection by fluorescence analysis. (A) In addition, cells were visualized by phase-contrast microscopy (PC) and nuclei by DAPI. (B) As a measure of transfection efficiency, HeLa cells (par.) and the HeLa derived p53-null clones HA1 and HC2 were incubated with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-dextran in the presence (FITC + oligof.) or absence (FITC oligof.) of Oligofectamine (Invitrogen) as indicated. In addition, nuclei were visualized by use of DAPI. (C) E6-AP levels were determined by Western blot analysis using a mouse monoclonal antibody.
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FIG. 5. Downregulation of HPV E6 expression does not interfere with the growth of p53-null HeLa cells. E6-specific synthetic siRNAs (7) were transfected into HeLa cells (par.) and the p53-null clones HA1 and HC2. Levels of p53 and induction of apoptosis (terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling [TUNEL]) were determined 24 h (d1) and 96 h (d4) after transfection by fluorescence analysis. In addition, cells were visualized by phase-contrast microscopy (PC) and nuclei by use of DAPI.
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M.A.D. is a fellow of the International Graduate School in Genetics and Functional Genomics at the University of Cologne. This work was supported by the European Commission (QLGI-CT-2001-02026) (M.S.), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (M.S.), the Deutsche Krebshilfe (F.H.-S.), and the Wilhelm-Sander-Stiftung (F.H.-S.).
Present address: Philip Morris Research Laboratories, Fuggerstr. 3, 51149 Cologne, Germany. ![]()
A.H. and M.A.D. contributed equally to this work. ![]()
Present address: Dept. of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Constance, Germany. ![]()
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