The HPV-18 E6 PBM contributes to inhibition of p53 transcriptional-transactivation activity. H1299 cells were transfected with the indicated promoter constructs upstream of a luciferase promoter—p21-Luc (A), PUMA-Luc (B), BAX-Luc (C), or Mdm2-Luc (D)—together with p53 and either wild-type or mutant HPV-18 E6 in the presence (CBZ) or absence (UN) of the proteasome inhibitor CBZ. The histograms show the results from at least three independent experiments quantified using Student's t test; the error bars indicate standard errors of the mean. Also shown are the P values (*, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.005; ***, P < 0.0005; ns, nonsignificant) for the changes in relative luciferase activity.