Role of normal cervical stem cells in the HPV induced initiation of cervical can

虽然HPV已被确定为几乎所有宫颈癌的病因，但大多数宫颈HPV感染并不会导致宫颈癌。只有1%的病例进展为高度不典型增生和癌症。大多数宫颈HPV感染是一过性的非肿瘤性生产性病毒感染，在一年内消失。一般认为，高危型HPV感染的持续存在是宫颈肿瘤发生发展的必然状态。在免疫状态正常的女性中，决定感染持久性的关键因素及其与宫颈癌风险增加的相关性在很大程度上仍不清楚。持续感染可能仅在特定宫颈细胞的靶向感染时发生，可能具有干细胞特性。为了验证这一想法，我们使用了从合作人类组织网络获得的新鲜组织宫颈上皮组织。我们实验室的一位前研究员成功地开发了一种分离宫颈上皮细胞的方案，并确定了一个具有干细胞预期功能特性的表型独特的亚群。初步数据显示，这种来源于宫颈上皮基底层的细胞组分与乳头瘤病毒样颗粒(VLP)的结合能力增加了80倍，这意味着如果以病毒为靶点，这些细胞可能表达更多的乳头瘤病毒结合部位，从而促进病毒感染。为了优化干细胞在原位发挥作用的体外环境，我们还开发了一种宫颈外器官培养模型，使我们能够建立和监测新鲜宫颈组织中的HPV结合和感染。在培养中保持的宫颈组织经历快速的细胞解离和更分化的顶端上皮层的剥离。相反，基底细胞仍然附着在基底膜上。剩下的细胞，以前是静止的，变得增殖并再生整个上皮，保留了通常在体内观察到的组织结构和细胞异质性。为了在我们的模型中建立感染，暴露基底细胞是必要的。我们能够证明，随着时间的推移，只有非常有限数量的基底层细胞仍然受到感染。我们的计划是利用流式细胞仪分析感染细胞的特征，以确定它们是否真的是宫颈干细胞。我们计划通过使用微阵列方法寻找新的标记物来进一步表征宫颈干细胞群体，这将改善干细胞分离，并调查这些细胞在生产性病毒感染到病毒诱导的癌前病变和宫颈癌进展中的作用。这项研究旨在提高我们对HPV诱导的宫颈癌发生的了解，并有助于开发针对宫颈癌的新策略。

Though HPV has been established as the etiologic agent for virtually all cervical cancers, the majority of cervical HPV infections do not lead to cervical cancer. Only 1% of cases progress to high grade dysplasia and cancer. The majority of cervical HPV-infections are transient non-neoplastic productive viral infections which disappear within a year. It is generally accepted that persistence of high risk HPV infection is an imperative state in the development of cervical neoplasia. The crucial factors determining persistence of infection and its correlation with an increased risk for cervical cancer in women with normal immune status are still largely unknown. Persistent infection may only occur upon targeted infection of specific cervical cells, possibly with stem cell properties. In order test this idea, we use fresh tissue cervical epithelial tissue obtained from the Cooperative Human Tissue Network. A former research fellow from our laboratory successfully developed a protocol to isolate cervical epithelial cells and to identify a phenotypically distinct subpopulation with functional properties expected for stem cells. The preliminary data show that this cell fraction, originating from the basal layer of the ectocervical epithelium possesses an 80 fold increased capacity to bind papillomavirus-like particles (VLP), thus implying that these cells may express an increased number of papillomavirus binding sites facilitating viral infection if targeted by the virus. In effort to optimize the in vitro environment that recapitulates the conditions under which stem cells function in situ, we have also developed an ectocervical organ culture model that allows us to establish and monitor HPV binding and infection in fresh cervical tissue. Cervical tissue maintained in culture undergoes rapid cell dissociation and exfoliation of the more differentiated, apical epithelial layers. In contrast, the basal cells remain attached to the basement membrane. The remaining cells, formerly quiescent, become proliferative and regenerate the entire epithelium, preserving the tissue architecture and cellular heterogeneity normally observed in vivo. In order to establish infection in our model, exposure of the basal cells is necessary. We were able to show that only a very limited number of cells within the basal layer remains infected over time. It is our plan to characterize the infected cells using FACs analysis to determine whether they are indeed cervical stem cells. We plan to further characterize the cervical stem cell population by searching for new markers using a microarray approach which will improve stem cell isolation and to investigate the role of these cells in progression of a productive viral infection to virus induced pre-malignant lesions and cervical cancer. This study aims to improve our understanding of HPV induced cervical carcinogenesis and contribute to the development of novel strategies designed to target cervical cancer.