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. 2020 Dec 11;11(12):1049. doi: 10.1038/s41419-020-03244-9

Fig. 5. HPV E7 upregulates the gene expression of NCAPH through transcription factor E2F1.

Fig. 5

A The expression of E2F1 in normal cervix (NC) (n = 10), HSIL (n = 7) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (n = 21) based on the data from GEO database (GSE7803). B GSEA analysis based on GSE7803 revealed the enrichment of E2F1 with high NCAPH expression. C The luciferase assay showed that the luciferase activity increased dramatically when E2F1 overexpression plasmid (pCMV-E2F1) was co-transfected with 3’-UTR regions of NCAPH gene (pGL3-NCAPH) into 293T cells. E2F1, pCMV-E2F1; NCAPH, pGL3-NCAPH; pGL3-Basic, mock vector; pCMV, mock vector. D, E, F Real-time PCR and Western Blot analysis showed that mRNA and protein levels of NCAPH decreased with the knock-down of E2F1 in HeLa and SiHa cells. NC, cells treated with negative control siRNA; siE2F1, cells treated with siRNA targeting E2F1 gene. G Overexpression of E2F1 significantly increased the protein level of NCAPH in HeLa and SiHa cells. pCMV, cells transfected with pCMV mock vector; OE-E2F1, cells transfected with pCMV-E2F1 plasmid. H, I, J Real-time PCR and Western Blot analysis showed that E2F1 and NCAPH expression decreased with the knock-down of E7 in HeLa and SiHa cells. NC, cells treated with negative control siRNA; siE7, cells treated with siRNA targeting E7 gene. K Western Blot analysis showed that the over-expression of E7 in RPE1-16E7 cells increased the expression of E2F1 and NCAPH significantly. With the interference of E2F1 expression, NCAPH level in RPE1-16E7 cells decreased dramatically. Data are presented as mean ± SD (n = 3). * represents p < 0.05, ** represents p < 0.01, *** represents p < 0.001, **** represents p < 0.0001.