Transcription activities of human papillomavirus type 11 E6 promoter-proximal elements in raft and submerged cultures of foreskin keratinocytes.

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) replicate only in differentiated squamous epithelia in warts and in epithelial raft cultures grown at the medium-air interface. Virus-encoded and host transcription factors are thought to be responsible for repressing the viral enhancer and promoter located within the upstream regulatory region (URR) in the undifferentiated basal and parabasal cells while up-regulating their activities in the differentiated spinous cells. Using recombinant retroviruses, we acutely transduced neonatal foreskin keratinocytes (PHKs) with a lacZ reporter gene driven by the wild-type URR of the low-risk HPV type 11 or by a URR with individual mutations in seven promoter-proximal elements, some of which have not been characterized previously. Beta-galactosidase activities were detected in the submerged, proliferating PHKs and also in the differentiated spinous cells, but not in the steady-state proliferating basal cells, of stratified raft cultures. In particular, mutation of an Oct1, an Sp1, or a previously unknown promoter-proximal AP1 site severely reduced the reporter activity, whereas mutation of either of two NF1 sites flanking the Oct1 site had no effect. These results demonstrate changes in cellular transcription factor profiles under different culture conditions and begin to characterize the naturally differentiation-dependent activation of the URR. They provide one molecular explanation for the patterns of HPV expression in warts and help validate epithelial raft cultures as an important experimental system for genetic dissection of HPV regulatory elements.