FIG 6.

Protein interactome of genes downregulated upon productive HPV16 infection of epithelial tissue types. The CLUSTER function (STRING database) was used to identify the most relevant protein interactions among the upregulated targets. Cytoscape software (3.6.0) was used to construct the networks, using yFiles hierarchic layout. (a to c) In HPV16 cervical tissue, clusters representing proteins involved in epithelial differentiation and ECM organization were identified. (d and e) Several immune response-related proteins, including type I interferon signaling pathway candidates, formed the major clusters in HPV16 foreskin. Owing to a minimum number of gene expression changes, we obtain a single cluster in HPV16 tonsil that comprises proteins involved in ECM organization and hemidesmosome assembly (c).