Infection and integration of high-risk human papillomavirus in HPV-associated cancer cells.

High-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV) have been associated with many human cancers in clinical studies. Integration of HPV into the human genome is a suspected etiological factor in the induction of some HPV-associated cancers. The characteristics of HPV integration in certain HPV-integrated cancer cells remain unclear.

Integrated HPV genomes tend to integrate in gene desert areas in the CaSki, HeLa, and SiHa cervical cancer cell lines.

Aims: The integration preferences of human papillomavirus (HPV) have been intensively studied and contested over recent years. To disclose the integration preferences of high-risk HPV in cervical cancer, HPV transcriptional sites and features in different cervical cancer cell lines were identified.

Main Methods: In this study, three cervical cancer cell lines (CaSki, HeLa, and SiHa) were subjected for HPV genome status determination by amplification of papillomavirus oncogene transcripts (APOT) assay.