Download Methylation Patterns in the LCR Region of HPV-16 and HPV

Methylation Patterns in the LCR Region of HPV-16 and HPV-31 Cervical Samples
Leticia Rojas
Mentor: Mina Kalantari
Cervical cancer is highly associated with infection of certain types of Human
Papillomaviruses (HPV). Over 90% of cervical cancers have been found to progress
from those HPV’s that are particularly “high-risk”. Included in these “high-risk” HPV’s
are HPV-16 and HPV-31, which is what this project has worked on thus far. This lab
researches the methylation patterns of different HPV type positive cervical samples.
Previous studies have shown that methylation of HPV genomes, at cytosine residues, may
suppress the progression of lesions and the development of cancer. The general goal is to
sequence high-risk HPV genomes and to establish a consistent pattern of methylation and
correlation with cancer development. We are investigating if there is a correlation
between the methylation pattern of the HPV genome and cervical carcinogenesis. The
project begins with the extraction of DNA from cervical tissue samples, which are then
modified by bisulfite modification. After modification, the products are amplified by
polymerase chain reaction, cloned and sequenced. Sequence analysis is performed to
determine the methylation status of each CpG site.