TREATMENT OF HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS (HPV)-INFECTED CELLS

摘要

This invention provides a novel gene therapy approach to specifically eliminate keratinocytes, or other cells, expressing early HPV (e.g. HPV 16) genes and which is minimally toxic to HPV-negative cells. In a preferred embodiment this method involves transfecting a mammalian cell with a nucleic acid construct encoding an HPV specific promoter that is induced by an HPV protein where the promoter is operably linked to a nucleic acid comprising a cytotoxic gene such that the cell, when infected with a human papilloma virus induces expression of the cytotoxic gene thereby resulting in the death of said mammalian cell.