Constitutive and steroid hormone regulated transcriptional enhancer elements in the genome of the human papilloma virus type 16, which is associated with neoplasia of the cervix.

The 7905 bp genomic DNA of the human papilloma virus type 16 (HPV-16), which is associated with invasive cervical neoplasia, contains a 832 bp upstream regulatory region (URR) supposed to contain most of its cis-acting promoter elements. A search for DNA sequences known to bind transcription factors has resulted in the recognition of numerous consensus sequences. A functional analysis of a segment of this URR containing some of these consensus sequences has resulted in the recognition of an enhancer element, that is functional only in human HeLa, but not in human MCF7 cells. The same region contains an element that confers regulatibility by glucocorticoid hormones, but not by sex steroids, to a linked promoter.