Human papillomavirus type 16 E6 and E7 oncogenes abrogate radiation-induced DNA damage responses in vivo through p53-dependent and p53-independent pathways

E6 and E7 oncoproteins from high risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) transform cells in tissue culture and induce tumors in vivo. Both E6, which inhibits p53 functions, and E7, which inhibits pRb, can also abrogate growth arrest induced by DNA-damaging agents in cultured cells. In this study, we have used transgenic mice that express HPV-16 E6 or E7 in the epidermis to determine how these two proteins modulate DNA damage responses in vivo. Our results demonstrate that both E6 and E7 abrogate the inhibition of DNA synthesis in the epidermis after treatment with ionizing radiation. Increases in the levels of p53 and p21 proteins after irradiation were suppressed by E6 but not by E7. Through the study of p53-null mice, we found that radiation-induced growth arrest in the epidermis is mediated through both p53-dependent and p53-independent pathways. The abrogation of radiation responses in both E6 and E7 transgenic mice was more complete than was seen in the p53-null epidermis. We conclude that E6 and E7 each have the capacity to modulate p53-dependent as well as p53-independent cellular responses to radiation. Additionally, we found that the conserved region (CR) 1 and CR2 domains in E7 protein, which are involved in the inactivation of pRb function and required for E7's transforming function, were also required for E7 to modulate DNA damage responses in vivo. Thus pRb and/or pRb-like proteins likely mediate both p53-dependent and p53-independent responses to radiation.