Disquisition of Viral Gene Expression: Through the Exploration of Human papillomavirus (HPV)
Outline
I. Introduction – give an exciting start for the paper
a. Background on topic
b. What can be explored
c. Thesis w/explanation of what will be covered
II. Body – synthesis of information found from research
a. Paragraph 1: Background on HPV
b. Paragraph 2: HPV variants
c. Paragraph 3: HPV gene expression
III. Conclusion – reiterate information
a. Tie everything together nicely
b. Restate what was learned through research
IV. References – Nature citation style, alphabetical
a. Review article 1
b. Review article 2
c. Any more sites used
Essay
A clear subject in the study of genetics is the focus of specific genomes and gene expression. Within our course this semester, our studies focused on eukaryotic and prokaryotic genomes and gene expression as a whole. An organism’s genome refers to all the genetic information said organism contains. Gene expression is how an organism’s genes are utilized in the synthesis of proteins or non-coding RNA that will eventually affect phenotypes. Among this work we talked briefly about viruses and how they express genes. However, there was a lot of particular details that we had to glaze over due to course time constraints. Viruses are of particular interest to me, especially considering the current state of world health affairs. Additionally, I am a research assistant in a lab that is working on understand Human papillomavirus (HPV) through the study and manipulation of pseudo-HPV cells. Therefore, my disquisition will focus on expanding understanding of HPV, HPV variants, and gene expression.
HPV is a viral, sexually transmitted infection (STI) which can lead to genital warts or in some cases cancer (CDC, 2022). Although, according to the CDC in 90 percent of cases it will go away. Despite this self-resolution rate, HPV is causes five percent of cancers, most commonly cervical cancer (Zhang et al., 2020). In the United States, it the most common form of STI that spreads when vaginal, anal, or oral sex occurs with someone who is already infected with HPV. Papillomaviruses, which includes HPVs, are DNA viruses that studies have shown to be highly evolutionary (Burk et al., 2013). It uses host machinery to replicate, which allows it to use host systems for proofreading, mutation correction, and many other functions (Burk et al., 2013). According to Burk et al., HPV is a strand that is at least 10 percent different, typically in the L1 open reading frame (ORF), than other papillomavirus species. Similar to many other viruses, there are many variants of HPV which have a range of intensity, some leading to aforementioned genital warts and others more likely to lead to cancer.
HPVs have a range of variations with the genus Alpha papillomavirus (alpha-PV)being the one that contains disease inducing HPV (Burk et al., 2013). There have been over 160 types of HPVs to be fully researched and understood from a genome point of view, with 60 being in the alpha-PV genus (Burk et al., 2013). This genus leads to many different diseases including most prominently cervical, anal, and head and neck cancers (Burk et al., 2013). There are similar sets of stages that lead to the development of cervical cancer from different HPV strains, which includes: continued infection, occurrence of precancerous lesions, and the continued presence and expansion of precancerous lesions. However, this is a highly simplified version of procession, due to the lack of knowledge in how exactly HPV becomes cancerous, and because of the complexity of HPV and its interactions with host cell genes.
HPV gene expression and how it replicates within host DNA is something that is still being researched today. In fact, this is research I am helping on as a research assistant at Old Dominion University. A new and exciting study published in 2020 by Zhang et al. is looking into the HPV cell entry mechanisms and has designed capsid proteins to interrupt and inhibit HPV infection. Cell penetrating peptides can be synthesized and then introduced into HPV cells to interrupt interactions between viral and cellular proteins (Zhang et al., 2020). These synthetic peptides contain L2 protein sequences, which is a site that attracts retromers. When introducing HPV pseudovirus after the introduction of the synthetic peptides the HPV does not receive the retromers needed and remains contained in the endosome. With it trapped in the endosome the infection is effectively put on pause, because it is unable to reach cellular proteins and the nucleus in order to replicate and fully infect (Zhang et al., 2020).
HPV is a variable virus that can lead to many different diseases and levels of infection. Its mechanisms, while still being heavily researched, are an intriguing source which could lead to more effective treatment options. Destigmatizing STIs and focusing medical research on viruses like HPV will lead our medical field into a new age of effectiveness. Through further research, I was able to learn more about HPV, its many variants, and the mechanisms of its gene expression and replication.
References
Burk, R. D., Harari, A. & Chen, Z. Human papillomavirus genome variants. Virology 445,
232-243 (2013).
Std Facts - Human papillomavirus (HPV). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022).
Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/stdfact-hpv.htm. (Accessed: 12th December 2022).
Zhang, P., Moreno, R., Lambert, P. F. & DiMaio, D. Cell-penetrating peptide inhibits
retromer-mediated human papillomavirus trafficking during virus entry. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, 6121–6128 (2020).
By: Joy Brewer
December 12, 2022
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