Human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6 and 11 are the aetiological agent of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP). The complete genome of an HPV6 isolate with a 170 base pair (bp) duplication identified within the long control region (LCR) from a patient with aggressive recurrent respiratory papillomatosis was determined. The promoter sequence from the HPV LCR including the 170 bp duplication was placed upstream of a heterologous reporter gene and the activity of the reporter gene product determined using transfected cells. In total, mutations were observed at 157 nucleotide positions of the complete genome and included nucleotide substitutions, deletions and insertions, resulting in amino acid changes at 43 residue positions. Reporter gene activity using an HPV-derived LCR region with a 170 bp duplication was significantly higher than that using an HPV-derived LCR region with no duplication within this region. The results suggest that novel HPV variants warrant further investigation for potential biomarkers of aggressive disease.
