<p>HPV16 is the most oncogenic type of human papillomaviruses (HPV). Integration of HPV into the human genome is an important mechanism of carcinogenesis but is absent in at least 30% of HPV16+ tumors. We applied long-read whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to cervical cancer cell lines and tumors to characterize HPV16 carcinogenesis in the absence of integration. WGS of HPV16+ cervical tumor samples from Latin America revealed that 11/20 tumors with only episomal HPV (EP) had intact monomer episomes. The remaining 9 EP tumors had multimer and rearranged HPV genomes. The majority (80%) of the HPV rearrangements and deletions disrupted the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/1489075">E1 </a>and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/1489080">E2</a> genes, and EP tumors overexpressed the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/1489078">E6</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/1489079">E7</a> viral oncogenes, a similar profile to tumors with HPV integration. Tumors with putative multimer HPV integrations display HPV multimers and concatemers of human and viral sequences. Our data uncovered a novel mechanism for HPV16 to cause cancer without integration through aberrant episomal replication, and forming rearranged, mutated, and multimer episomes.</p>

Genetic Analysis of Latin American Cervical Cancer

19 variables across Demographics, Disease Events, Race and Ethnicity

Genetic Analysis of Latin American Cervical Cancer

Demographics (3)

Disease Events (1)

Race and Ethnicity (1)

Other (14)