Fig. 3.

HPV16 E6 promotes cell proliferation mediated by G6PD. PHKs and C33A cells were stably transduced with lentiviruses expressing the vector, HPV16 E6, or HPV16 E7. These cells were then treated with the G6PD inhibitor 6-An (81.06 μM or 26.78 μM) or infected with a lentivirus expressing shG6PD. (A–D) Cell proliferation rates were determined by performing a CCK8 assay (left). The percentage reduction in cell viability on day 6 is shown independently (right). (E) In total, C33A-Vector, C33A-HPV16E6, and C33A-HPV16E7 cells (1 × 10⁶) were inoculated subcutaneously into the right flanks of 4- to 5-week-old female nude mice (n = 5 each). Images are shown of nude mouse xenograft tumors derived from C33A-HPV16 E6 and C33A-HPV16 E7 cells treated with 4 mg/kg/3d 6-An. Tumor sizes were measured every 5 days for 3 weeks. Intracellular NADPH (G), NADPH/NADP⁺ (H), GSH (I), GSH/GSSH (J) ROS (K–L) H₂O₂ (M), and protein carbonylation levels (N) were tested. Each dot represents an independent biological replicate in the plots. Data are presented as mean ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001 compared with indicated groups. Statistical significance was determined using unpaired two-tailed t-test. NS, not significant.