| "text": "This is an academic paper. This paper has corpus identifier PMC2527786\nAUTHORS: N Akil, A Yasmeen, A Kassab, L Ghabreau, A D Darnel, A-E Al Moustafa\n\nABSTRACT:\nHigh-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) could be important risk factors for breast carcinogenesis and metastasis. Based on this hypothesis, we recently studied the effect of E6/E7 onco-proteins of high-risk HPV type 16 in two non-invasive human breast cancer cell lines, BT20 and MCF7; we reported that E6/E7 converts these cell lines to invasive cells. This is accompanied by an overexpression of Id-1, which is an important regulator of breast metastasis. In this investigation, we examined the presence of high-risk HPVs (16, 18, 31, 33 and 35) and the expression of their E6 onco-protein as well as their correlation with Id-1 gene expression, using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and tissue microarray (TMA) analysis, respectively, in a cohort of 113 Syrian breast cancer patients. We found that high-risk HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33 and 35 are present in 8.84, 9.73, 7.07, 55.75 and 37.16% of our samples, respectively, which represent invasive breast cancers. Overall, 69 (61.06%) of the 113 samples are HPV positive; among these specimens 24 tissues (34.78%) are coinfected with more than one HPV type. Furthermore, we report that the expression of the E6 onco-protein of these high-risk HPVs is correlated with Id-1 overexpression in the majority of invasive breast cancer tissue samples. Our data suggest that high-risk HPV infections are associated with human breast cancer progression in Syrian women.\n\nBODY:\nHigh-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are important risk factors for numerous human cancers including cervical, colorectal and head and neck (HN); as roughly 96, 80 and 28% of these cancers are positive for high-risk HPVs, respectively (Damin et al, 2007; Sturgis and Cinciripini, 2007; de Sanjosé et al, 2007). In addition, the presence of high-risk HPVs serve as prognostic factors in early-stage cervical, colorectal and HN cancers, and are associated with vascular invasion, lymph node metastases and tumour size (Begum et al, 2003; Graflund et al, 2004; Zuna et al, 2004; Umudum et al, 2005; Varnai et al, 2006). The E6 and E7 onco-proteins of high-risk HPVs, which are constitutively expressed in these cancers, inactivate p53 and pRb tumour suppressors, respectively (Vousden, 1995). E6 facilitates the degradation of p53 through its association with an accessory protein, E6-AP, a component of the ubiquitin proteolytic pathway (Scheffner et al, 1993). Although, E7 proteins of high-risk HPVs bind to Rb (Dyson et al, 1989), as well as to other pocket proteins, such as p107 and p130 (Dyson et al, 1992), leading to cell cycle deregulation. This results in genomic instability and has been implicated in the progression of normal cells into cancer cells.Several recent studies reported that approximately 50% of human breast cancers are positive for high-risk HPVs, especially types 16, 18 and 33 (Yu et al, 2000; Liu et al, 2001; de Villiers et al, 2005; Kan et al, 2005); controversially a few studies revealed that HPVs could not be detected in breast cancer and normal tissues (Gopalkrishna et al, 1996; Lindel et al, 2007). On the other hand, studies that found HPV-positive samples revealed that certain types of high-risk HPV infections are linked to specific geographic locations. According to this observation, we recently reported that HPV type 16 is the only type of high-risk HPV present in breast cancer tissues of Canadian women (Yasmeen et al, 2007a).The Id-1 gene (inhibitor of differentiation and DNA binding), a member of the helix-loop-helix transcription factor family, has multiple functions, including inhibition of differentiation, induction of proliferation and delaying replicative senescence (Fong et al, 2004; Sikder et al, 2003). Moreover, Id-1 has been suggested as a potential oncogene, because it is upregulated in many types of human cancer such as breast, prostate and cervical (Lin et al, 2000; Schindl et al, 2001; Ouyang et al, 2002). In breast cancer patients, enhanced Id-1 expression is correlated with more aggressive behaviour as well as much shorter overall survival (Schoppmann et al, 2003; Jang et al, 2006). These studies suggest that Id-1 plays a positive role in promoting the development and progression of human breast cancer.This study aims to recognise the specific types of high-risk HPV infections present in Syrian women and their association with tumour aggressiveness and Id-1 overexpression.Materials and MethodsHPV detection and type specificationA total of 113 blocks from breast cancer patients with a median age of 52 (range, 26–66) years were used in this study. Formalin-fixed (buffered neutral aqueous 10% solution), paraffin-embedded tumour materials were obtained from the Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Aleppo. The use of these specimens and data in research was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine of Aleppo University. Five μg of purified DNA (from each sample) was analysed for HPV by multiplex PCR targets to the conserved L1 region of the viral genome by use of PGMY09/11 L1 primer pools (Begum et al, 2003; Yasmeen et al, 2007a, 2007b). In parallel, we used specific primers for E6 and E7 genes to detect HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33 and 35, whereas, specific primers for the GAPDH gene were used as an internal control (Table 1). PCR products were denatured in 0.13N NaOH and hybridised to an immobilised HPV probe array using an extended reverse line-blot assay for HPV genotyping (Roche Molecular Systems Inc., Alameda, CA, USA) of five HPV types classified as high-risk HPVs (types 16, 18, 31, 33 and 35) as described by Begum et al (2003).Tissue microarrayThe tissue microarray (TMA) construction was performed as described by Kuefer et al (2004). Briefly, tissue cylinders with a diameter of 0.6 mm were punched from representative tumour areas of a ‘donor’ tissue block using a semiautomatic robotic precision instrument. Two sections of the TMA blocks were transferred to an adhesive coated slide system (Instrumedics Inc., Hackensack, NJ, USA). Slides of the finished blocks were used for immunohistochemistry analysis.ImmunohistochemistryImmunohistochemical procedures examining the expression of Id-1 and E6 were carried out using standard procedures as previously described (Al Moustafa et al, 2004). Primary specific antibodies were obtained from Santa Cruz Biotechnology and Calbiochem. Briefly, TMA sections were deparaffinised, rehydrated and endogenous peroxidase activity within the rehydrated tissue was blocked with a solution of 3% hydrogen peroxide in methanol for 10 min at room temperature. Antigen retrieval was carried out by boiling in 10 mM sodium citrate solution (pH 6.0) for 10 min. The TMA slides were cooled and equilibrated in Optimax™ wash buffer then incubated overnight (15 h) at 4°C with primary antibodies for Id-1 (rabbit polyclonal; sc-488; Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA, USA) and E6 (mouse monoclonal; clone C1P5; Calbiochem, San Diego, CA, USA). In all cases, the diluent was 0.6% BSA in Optimax wash buffer. Sections were then washed (4 × 1 min), and the appropriate secondary HRP-conjugated antibody was applied for 1 h at room temperature (Calbiochem, Canada). The slides were counterstained with haematoxylin and mounted.ResultsTo determine the role of high-risk HPV infections in human breast cancer in Middle Eastern women, we investigated the presence of high-risk HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33 and 35 in a cohort of 113 breast cancer samples from Syrian women by PCR analysis using specific primers for their E6 and/or E7 genes (Table 1). Our study revealed that 69 (61.06%) of the 113 samples are HPV positive and 24 (34.78%) of these specimens are coinfected with more than one HPV type (Table 2). We found that HPV types 16, 18 and 31 are present in only 10, 11 and 8 cancer tissues, respectively (Table 3). In contrast, 63 and 42 cancer tissues were positive for HPV types 33 and 35, respectively (Table 3).To assess the association between the presence of HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33 and 35 with tumour aggressiveness and Id-1 expression in breast cancer in Syrian women, we examined the expression of the E6 onco-protein of high-risk HPVs along with Id-1 expression in all our breast tissue samples by immunohistochemistry using tissue microarray methodology. We found that E6 expression is correlated with Id-1 overexpression in 94.25% of invasive breast cancer samples as opposed to 30.76% of in situ cancer tissues (Table 4 and Figure 1); whereas we presume that these in situ breast carcinomas, which are HPV-positive, will ultimately progress into invasive carcinomas under the effect of these HPVs, as they are already intermediate to high nuclear grade. Moreover, to confirm the association between E6/E7 of HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33 and 35 and Id-1, we investigated the presence of E6 and/or E7 of these viruses by PCR using specific primers for E6/E7 genes (Table 1). By means of this analysis, we were able to prove that E6/E7 of HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33 and 35 are present in the majority of invasive breast cancer tissues; and their presence is associated with Id-1 overexpression (Table 4).DiscussionThis is, to the best of our knowledge, the first study on the presence of high-risk HPVs and their relation with tumour aggressiveness in breast cancer in Syrian women. Earlier studies on breast cancer have reported that HPV types 11, 16 and 18 are the most frequent in women living in the United States and Brazil (Liu et al, 2001; Damin et al, 2004); and HPV type 18 is present in the majority of Australian women (Kan et al, 2005). In parallel, HPV type 33 is the most frequent virus in Asian women (Yu et al, 1999, 2000). HPV type 16 has been identified in Italian and Norwegian women who had previous cervical neoplasias (Hennig et al, 1999). Moreover, we recently reported that HPV type 16 is the only type present in Canadian women. However, studies on the presence of high-risk HPV in the Middle East reveal that HPV types 18, 33 and 35 are present in breast cancer and normal mammary tissues in Turkish women (Gumus et al, 2006). On the other hand, the presence of HPVs in human breast cancer tissues varies from 12.9 to 86% (de Villiers et al, 2005; Tsai et al, 2005). In this study, we report that HPVs are present in 61.06% of breast cancer in Syrian women; moreover, HPV types 33 and 35 are the predominant viruses of the high-risk HPV family in these breast cancer tissues. Therefore, our data confirm that specific types of high-risk HPV infection, in breast tissues, are related to specific geographic locations.Regarding the association between high-risk HPV and tumour aggressiveness, recent studies, including ours, have reported that the presence of HPV type 16, in human breast cancer, is correlated with invasive carcinomas (Kroupis et al, 2006; Yasmeen et al, 2007a). Moreover, we demonstrated that E6/E7 onco-proteins of HPV type 16 convert non-invasive breast cancer cells to an invasive phenotype (Yasmeen et al, 2007a); this is accompanied by an overexpression of Id-1, which regulates cell invasion and metastasis of human breast cancer cells (Desprez et al, 1998; Fong et al, 2003). In this study, we investigated the relation between high-risk HPVs and Id-1 expression in breast cancer tissues from Syrian women. We report, for the first time, that the presence of E6/E7 onco-proteins of HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33 and 35 are associated with Id-1 overexpression. Recently, Minn et al (2005) identified a subset of genes that mediate lung metastasis of human breast cancer; Id-1 was revealed as one of these important genes. We recently found that human breast cancer cells expressing E6/E7 of HPV type 16 display a major lung metastatic activity when compared with their wild type cells in vivo. Separately, we reported that the presence of E6/E7 of HPV type 16 is correlated with Id-1 overexpression in human invasive and metastatic breast cancer tissues in Canadian women. Moreover, we revealed that E6/E7 of HPV type 16 affects Id-1 deregulation through the activation of its promoter (Yasmeen et al, 2007a). Therefore, the present study clearly suggests that Id-1 is the downstream target of E6/E7 of HPV types 18, 31, 33 and 35 in human breast cancer progression.In conclusion, we demonstrate that high-risk HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33 and 35 are present in human breast cancer in Syrian women. In addition, HPV types 33 and 35 are the most dominant types of HPV infection found in Middle Eastern women, based on the combination of this study and a study by Gumus et al (2006). In parallel, we report that Id-1 is an important target for E6/E7 onco-proteins of HPV type 16, 18, 31, 33 and 35 in breast cancer cells. 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