HPV Oncogenic Marker Assay for Cervical Carcinomas

Cervical cancer represents the second most frequent cancer in women after breast cancer. Human papi(HPVs) are implicated as a causative agent in several human cancers, especially squamous tumors of tanogenital region, the risk being highest with HPV types 16 and 18. The carcinogenic potential of HPclosely related to their E6 and E7 oncoproteins which strongly associate with the cellular tumor supretinoblastoma (pRb) proteins, respectively, leading to their functional inactivation, thus providinHPV-induced cell transformation and carcinogenesis. The goal of this Phase I proposal is to developassay based on reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for the expression of E6 andcould be used to analyze clinical samples for the expression of these oncogenes and evaluate the risinto a malignant state. Such an assay may provide an approach for early diagnosis of any suspect lesinfections with a potential for developing into a carcinoma before it actually occurs. Several setsdesigned that amplify specific regions from E6 or E7 oncogene transcripts of high risk HPV types. Cooptimized for a multiplex RT-PCR, using HPV positive and negative cell lines, to enable visualizatioproducts on agarose gels, and their verification by hybridization. The RT-PCR based assay will be ussamples for the expression of HPV oncogenes, and the results will be compared with the cytological e