Prevalence of HPV16 E1-1374 boolean AND 63nt variants in Greek women

Abstract

Recent studies have focused on sequence variation of the HPV16 E1 gene. The present study investigates the prevalence of E1-1374<^>63nt duplication in the Greek population, and the sequence variation at the 5 ' end of the E1 and E6 genes from samples that harbored this genetic alteration. Fifty HPV16 positive cervical samples, derived from Greek patients were investigated. The 5 ' end of the E1 gene was amplified through PCR and the variant amplicons were cloned, sequenced, and bioinformatically analyzed for selective pressure. The E1-1374<^>63nt duplication was identified in 24% of the examined samples, with the same prevalence in both high and low-grade cervical malignancies. The E1-1374<^>63nt duplication was linked to the European variant lineage (x(2) = 5.076, P < 0.024) and it was significantly associated with the nucleotide variation A1053C (x(2) = 23.102, P < 0.0001). Molecular evolution analyses anticipate that the E1-1374<^>63nt duplication induces functional constraints on the 5 ' end of E1 gene, and it is proposed that this duplication might not affect negatively the function or structure of the E1 protein. The E1-1374<^>63nt duplication is prevalent in the Greek population, whereas the A1053C variation might constitute a significant marker for the characterization of the E1-1374<^>63nt variant in the Greek population, thus providing significant information about viral pathogenicity. J. Med. Virol. 86:778-784, 2014. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.