Novel structural approaches concerning HPV proteins: Insight into targeted therapies for cervical cancer (Review)

Abstract

Cervical cancer incidence is tightly linked to HPV infection, and particularly virus types 16 and 18 cause the majority of cases presenting with pre-cancerous stages of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Structural and functional information concerning HPV proteins can offer novel insight into the mechanism(s) of cancer progression in the cervical epithelium. Recently, novel structural determinants of the interactions of viral proteins with their targets in keratinocytes have been elucidated. These exciting findings open the way for the development of targeted anti-oncogenic therapies, and may eventually allow the introduction of novel approaches for a rational cervical cancer treatment.