Summary
ABSTRACT “High-risk” human papillomavirus (HPV) types such as 16 (HPV-16) are identified in the majority of HPV- associated pre-malignant and malignant pathologies of cervical, anogenital, and oropharyngeal epithelia. The E6 protein is essential for viral replication and cellular models of oncogenic transformation. We hypothesized that small molecules that bind to and form a covalent bond with E6 will antagonize its functions, including the ability to bind the ubiquitin ligase E6AP and recruitment of p53 for proteasomal degradation. Structure-based computational screening followed by design an