Selective suppression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 expression by human papillomavirus E6 and E7 oncoproteins in human cervical epithelial and epidermal cells

Infection of cervical keratinocytes by high-risk HPV is involved in the etiology of cervical carcinoma. Since viral products are immunogenic, development of cancer may require suppression of immune responses directed against infected epithelial cells. Many markers of host immune effector responses decrease as cervical intraepithelial neoplasia progresses. Among these is epithelial cell expression of the chemokine MCP-I, though the mechanism for its suppression is unclear. Here, we show that the E6 and E7 viral oncogenes from high-risk HPV, individually and together, suppress MCP-I expression in primary epithelial cells derived from the female genital tract. This is not a consequence of global suppression of chemokine expression since other chemokines, including IP-10, IL-8 and RANTES, were less affected. Furthermore, 4 of 6 HPV-positive cervical carcinoma cell lines did not express MCP-I. Our data indicate that suppression of MCP-I expression is part of the program of high-risk HPV E6/E7-induced transformation of primary epithelial cells. These observations are consistent with a model in which MCP-I expression by infected keratinocytes, which would stimulate an immune attack on HPV-transformed cells, is suppressed for invasive cervical cancer to appear. (C) 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.