# Project 3-Human papillomavirus in HIV associated lung cancers

> **NIH NIH P20** · LSU HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER · 2020 · $280,072

## Abstract

Abstract: In recent years, AIDS-related mortality has dramatically decreased due to the highly active 
antiretroviral therapy (HAART) but the mortality caused by the non-AIDS-defining cancers, especially lung 
cancer (LC) is continuously rising. In the U.S., LC becomes the most common and most deadly non-AIDS- 
defining cancer in HIV(+) populations. Although smoking is a key risk factor for HIV associated LCs, HIV(+) 
individuals still have a significantly increased LC risk after controlling for smoking status, indicating that other 
factors are responsible for the higher LC incidence in HIV(+) populations. Existing etiology studies have been 
largely focused on the involvement of human papillomavirus (HPV) in non-HIV associated LCs. A study to 
investigate the role of HPV in HIV associated LCs has not yet been reported. To date, the view on whether or 
not HPV is associated with LCs is highly controversial, since the observed HPV infection rate in LCs varies 
from 0 to 100%. Further, the hypothetic role of HPV in LCs is mainly based on the detection of HPV genomic 
DNA in LCs. So far, none of the association studies has demonstrated that the detected HPV DNA is 
transcriptionally active in the lung tumor tissues. Without evidence of viral transcription, the causal role of HPV 
in LCs is highly questionable, since it's well known that HPV must be transcriptionally active in order to induce 
its associated cancers. The overarching goal of this proposal is to resolve this long-standing controversy of the 
involvement of HPV in LCs using our cutting-edge sequencing and informatics approaches and information 
obtained from the natural in vivo tumor environment. To accomplish this goal, we will first examine our 
hypothesis that HPV is causally associated with a subset of LCs in HIV(+) population, but not in the general 
population. The rest of the work will test our hypothesis that HPV promotes lung oncogenesis by inducing a 
unique set of cancer driver mutations and manipulating cancer pathways through synergistic expression of viral 
E5 and E7 genes. By conducting the proposed work, we expect to get solid evidence supporting a causal role 
of HPV in HIV associated LCs and obtain much needed, unprecedented insight into the unique mechanism 
underlying the HPV(+) LCs in HIV infected individuals, which may be particularly significant for future patient 
care and disease management.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9937786
- **Project number:** 5P20GM121288-04
- **Recipient organization:** LSU HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Zhen Lin
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $280,072
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-06-01 → 2021-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9937786

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9937786, Project 3-Human papillomavirus in HIV associated lung cancers (5P20GM121288-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9937786. Licensed CC0.

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