Cellular binding partners of the human papillomavirus E6 protein

The high-risk strains of human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) are known to be causative agents of cervical cancer and have recently also been implicated in cancers of the oropharynx. E6 is a potent oncogene of HR-HPVs, and its role in the progression to malignancy has been and continues to be explored. E6 is known to interact with and subsequently inactivate numerous cellular proteins pivotal in the mediation of apoptosis, transcription of tumor suppressor genes, maintenance of epithelial organization, and control of cell proliferation. Binding of E6 to these proteins cumulatively contributes to the oncogenic potential of HPV. This paper provides an overview of these cellular protein partners of HR-E6, the motifs known to mediate oncoprotein binding, and the agents that have the potential to interfere with E6 expression and activity and thus prevent the subsequent progression to oncogenesis

Design and characterization of an enhanced repressor of human papillomavirus E2 protein

Papillomaviruses are causative agents of cervical and anogenital cancers. The viral E2 protein mediates viral DNA replication and transactivation of viral oncogenes and thus represents a specific target for therapeutic intervention. Short forms of E2, E2R, contain only the C-terminal dimerization domain, and repress the normal function of E2 due to formation of an inactive heterodimer. Using structure-guided design, we replaced conserved residues at the dimer interface to design a heterodimer with increased stability. One E2R mutant in which histidine was replaced by a glutamate residue showed preferential heterodimer formation in vitro, as well as an increase in plasticity at the interface, as a result of histidine-glutamate pair formation, as observed spectroscopically and in the crystal structure, determined to 2.2-Å resolution. In addition, the enhanced E2R showed greater repression of transcription from E2-responsive reporter plasmids in mammalian cell culture. Recent advances in protein delivery into the cell raise the possibility of using exogenously added proteins as therapeutic agents. More generally, this approach may be used to target the subunit interfaces of any multisubunit protein having a similar mechanism of action.—Bose, K., Meinke, G., Bohm, A., Baleja, J. D. Design and characterization of an enhanced repressor of human papillomavirus E2 protein

Structural features specific to plant metallothioneins

The metallothionein (MT) superfamily combines a large variety of small cysteine-rich proteins from nearly all phyla of life that have the ability to coordinate various transition metal ions, including Zn(II), Cd(II), and Cu(I). The members of the plant MT family are characterized by great sequence diversity, requiring further subdivision into four subfamilies. Very peculiar and not well understood is the presence of rather long cysteine-free amino acid linkers between the cysteine-rich regions. In light of the distinct differences in sequence to MTs from other families, it seems obvious to assume that these differences will also be manifested on the structural level. This was already impressively demonstrated with the elucidation of the three-dimensional structure of the wheat E(c)-1 MT, which revealed two metal cluster arrangements previously unprecedented for any MT. However, as this structure is so far the only one available for the plant MT family, other sources of information are in high demand. In this review the focus is thus set on any structural features known, deduced, or assumed for the plant MT proteins. This includes the determination of secondary structural elements by circular dichroism, IR, and Raman spectroscopy, the analysis of the influence of the long linker regions, and the evaluation of the spatial arrangement of the sequence separated cysteine-rich regions with the aid of, e.g., limited proteolytic digestion. In addition, special attention is paid to the contents of divalent metal ions as the metal ion to cysteine ratios are important for predicting and understanding possible metal-thiolate cluster structures