title: The study of the mechanisms of human papillomavirus (HPV) amplificational replication
reg no: ETF5524
project type: Estonian Science Foundation research grant
subject: 1.6-1.9. Chemistry and Molecular Biology
2.7. Biotechnology, Food and Drink Technology
3. Medical Sciences
status: accepted
institution: TU Technology Center
head of project: Ene Ustav
duration: 01.01.2003 - 31.12.2006
description: Because of the widespread nature of the human papillomavirus infection and their malignant potential for people, the goals of current proposal are:
1) to study in human papillomavirus system (HPVs) the regulation of DNA amplification by the level of the viral replication protein E1 for reason to find the conditions (the concentration of replication proteins, the type of cells, the physiological state of cells) which will promote the "onion-skin" type of DNA replication with appearance in large quantities of subgenomic fragments of HPVs;
2) to study the possible stress-conditions of cells for induction of overamplification;
3) to describe the replication products from "onion-skin" replication, their structures, topology, the size, their possible involvement in the processes of integration and recombination;
4) to solve the hypotheses, that the appearance of the viral subgenomic fragments and their additional integration into the genome of the host in case of high-grade of HPVs is the mechanism in which the cancer will arise;
5) to use the amplificational power of "onion-skin" replication for origin region and surrounding areas to induce the gene-excanges in cells in vivo by homologous recombination.

project group
no name institution position  
1.Kristi FomatskinaIMCB, Tartu Universitylab-technician 
2.Jelizaveta GeimanenTartu UniversityM. Sci 
3.Kadri JaniksonTartu UniversityM. Sci 
4.Anri KivilTartu UniversityM. Sci 
5.Ene UstavTU Technology Centersenior reseach fellow