Do G protein-coupled receptors expressed in human lingual epithelium interact with HPV11?

Human papillomaviruses infect epithelia but little is known about the nature of cell surface receptors interacting with the viral particles. It has been proposed that glycosaminoglycans and integrins may be involved in the attachment process. In the present study, the putative interactions of virus-like particles of human papillomavirus type 11 (HPV11), which present a tropism for nasopharyngeal epithelia, with olfactory and taste receptors expressed in the human lingual epithelium were studied. The L1 protein of HPV11 was produced in insect cells. The presence of L1 virus-like particles was analyzed by ELISA using monoclonal antibodies specific for full-size particles and by electron microscopy. Using immunofluorescence, it was observed that virus-like particles interacted with taste buds from murine tongue, with the tagged human olfactory receptor hJCG5 expressed in HEK-293 but not with the tagged taste receptor hT2R4. This therefore suggests that hJCG5 may be involved in the adsorption process of HPV11 to lingual epithelium serving as a so-called "adsorption-adhesive molecule."