Genome wide expression analysis in HPV16 cervical cancer: identification of altered metabolic pathways

• Published in: Infectious agents and cancer Vol. 2; no. 1; p. 16
• Main Authors: Pérez-Plasencia, Carlos, Vázquez-Ortiz, Guelaguetza, López-Romero, Ricardo, Piña-Sanchez, Patricia, Moreno, José, Salcedo, Mauricio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 06.09.2007; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Cervical cancer; Complications and side effects; Gene expression; Genetic aspects; Health aspects; Papillomavirus infections; Mexico
• ISSN: 1750-9378; 1750-9378
• DOI: 10.1186/1750-9378-2-16

Cervical carcinoma (CC) is a leading cause of death among women worldwide. Human papilloma virus (HPV) is a major etiological factor in CC and HPV 16 is the more frequent viral type present. Our aim was to characterize metabolic pathways altered in HPV 16 tumor samples by means of transcriptome wide analysis and bioinformatics tools for visualizing expression data in the context of KEGG biological pathways. We found 2,067 genes significantly up or down-modulated (at least 2-fold) in tumor clinical samples compared to normal tissues, representing ~3.7% of analyzed genes. Cervical carcinoma was associated with an important up-regulation of Wnt signaling pathway, which was validated by in situ hybridization in clinical samples. Other up-regulated pathways were those of calcium signaling and MAPK signaling, as well as cell cycle-related genes. There was down-regulation of focal adhesion, TGF-beta signaling, among other metabolic pathways. This analysis of HPV 16 tumors transcriptome could be useful for the identification of genes and molecular pathways involved in the pathogenesis of cervical carcinoma. Understanding the possible role of these proteins in the pathogenesis of CC deserves further studies.