The E6 protein of human papillomavirus type 16 functions as a transcriptional repressor in a mechanism independent of the tumor suppressor protein, p53.

The E6 protein of human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 displays a number of activities when transfected into cultured cells, including transcriptional activation of several viral promoters and targeting of p53 for degradation. HPV 16E6 was found to function as a transcriptional repressor of the moloney murine leukemia virus long terminal repeat and the cytomegalovirus immediate early promoter. Although the degree of transcriptional repression was low, a dose-dependent two- to threefold decrease in promoter activity was consistently seen in cells expressing 16E6. HPV 16E6-dependent transcriptional repression was observed in C33a cells, which express mutant p53, and in Saos-2 cells, which lack p53. These results indicate that 16E6-dependent repression of promoter activity is unlikely to be mediated by p53.