We are thrilled to announce the publication of groundbreaking research that reveals how HPV16 infects cells!
This collaborative work, led by Fouzia from our lab and Laura from Mario Schelhaas’s lab at the University of Münster, delves into the complex interactions between the human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) and heparan sulfate (HS) on cell surfaces. The study highlights the critical role of HS sulfation in the virus’s infection process.
In this work, Fouzia used her expertise in well-defined and controlled biomimetic surface and atomic force microscopy (AFM) based single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) to measure the binding affinity between HPV16 and HS (Figure 1). She discovered that N-sulfation of HS supports high-affinity binding necessary for the virus to attach to host cells. This finding was wellsupported by cell-based assays performed by Laura.
Fouzia further used AFM-SMFS to measure bond strength and found that 6O-sulfation mechanically stabilizes the interaction between HPV16 and HS, facilitating the virus’s entry into host cells. These results led to the proposal of a physical model explaining the unique contributions of specific HS moieties to HPV16 binding and structural activation.
Overall, this study demonstrates how combining biophysical and cell-based assays can deepen our understanding of how HPV16 initiates infection.
Marta shared her excitement about the findings. She said “our findings highlight the complex nature of virus-host interactions and provide a deeper understanding of how HPV16 initiates infection. This knowledge will help facilitating the development of drugs to combat HPV-related diseases.”
A huge congratulations to all the authors who contributed to this remarkable work! We look forward to the future discoveries this research will inspire.
You can read the article here.