APM-1, a novel human gene, identified by aberrant co-transcription with papillomavirus oncogenes in a cervical carcinoma cell line, encodes a BTB/POZ-zinc finger protein with growth inhibitory activity.

Integration of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA into the host cell genome is an important step in cervical carcinogenesis. In tumour cells with integrated HPV DNA, transcription of viral oncogenes E6 and E7 continues into the flanking cellular sequences thereby producing viral-cellular fusion transcripts. Analysis of cellular sequences flanking the integrated HPV68 DNA in the cervical carcinoma cell line ME180 revealed homozygosity of the mutant allele in ME180 cells. We speculated that this could indicate the existence of a cellular tumour suppressor gene in the integration region. We report here the identification of a novel human gene, named APM-1, which is co-transcribed with the HPV68 E6 and E7 genes and is present in the 3'-cellular part of the ME180 viral-cellular fusion transcripts. The APM-1 gene encodes a protein with a BTB/POZ domain and four zinc fingers, and is located at chromosome 18q21. APM-1 transcripts are detected in normal cervical keratinocytes, but not in the majority of cervical carcinoma cell lines analysed. The APM-1 gene caused a reduction of clonal cell growth in vitro of HeLa and CaSki tumour cells. These characteristics make APM-1, the first novel human gene identified in a HPV integration region, a likely candidate for the postulated tumour suppressor gene.