HPV 16 E7 oncoprotein induces expression of a 110 kDa heat shock protein

Heat shock protein genes are induced by various kinds of stress. Besides stress, the heat shock family gene hsp70 has been shown to be induced by growth-stimulating agents such as the DNA virus oncoproteins and serum. Here, we report cloning of a novel cDNA that encodes a 100 kDa heat shock protein-related polypeptide as a human papillomavirus oncoprotein E7-inducible gene. E7 induces expression of this heat shock protein at the level of RNA synthesis. Moreover, the induction of this heat shock protein-mRNA was dependent on the conserved region 2 of the E7 protein, which is essential for binding to the proteins of the retinoblastoma family.