Role of the human papillomaviruses in human cancer.

The papillomaviruses associated with human anogenital carcinomas encode two transforming genes, E6 and E7. The oncoprotein products of these two genes complex with the tumor suppressor gene products p53 and pRB, respectively. The loss of the normal function of these tumor suppressor gene products, either as a consequence of their association with E6 and E7 or by mutation, appears to be a common event in human cervical carcinogenesis.