Suppression of tumor growth by the 3' untranslated region of mel-18 in 3Y1 cells transformed by the E6 and E7 genes of human papillomavirus type 18.

Abstract

By introducing a cDNA library derived from rat embryonic fibroblast cells, we isolated several morphologically flat revertants of rat 3Y1 cells transformed by the E6 and E7 genes of human papillomavirus type 18 (HPV18). From one of the revertants, we recovered a 0.2-kb cDNA, N56, that suppresses the tumor growth of the transformed 3Y1 cells irrespective of the expression of the E6 and E7 genes. The nucleotide sequence of the cDNA was shown to be identical to that of the 3' untranslated region of a putative mammalian polycomb group gene, mel-18.