Abstract
The upstream regulatory region (URR) of the human papillomaviruses HPV16 and 18 contains a sequence with a seven out of eight base match to the consensus binding site for octamer binding transcription factors. This motif acts as a target for repression by the Oct-1 transcription factor and therefore inhibits promoter activity in non-cervical cells expressing only Oct-1. In contrast the HPV octamer motif activates promoter activity in cervical cells. Here we show that cervical cells express the activating form of the Oct-2 transcription factor, Oct 2.1 and that this factor can transactivate promoter activity via the HPV16 octamer. This effect is dependent upon both the N and C-terminal activation domains of Oct-2. The expression of specific octamer binding proteins such as Oct-2 in cervical cells thus allows the HPV16 motif to produce opposite effects on gene expression in cervical and non-cervical cells suggesting that it may play a role in the cervical specificity of URR driven gene expression.