The University of Tübingen is one of the top-ranked universities in Germany, with a well-known Medical School and University Hospital. The Institute of Medical Virology is an advanced and highly specialised laboratory for research on viral diseases and provides viral diagnostics for the University hospital. Research on infectious diseases is one of five core competences of the Medical Department of University of Tübingen. The Section Experimental Virology focuses on basic research on carcinogenic papillomaviruses using three-dimensional tissue culture and animal model systems and on the development of advanced diagnostic tools for papillomavirus infections. Thomas Iftner was member of IARC/WHO working groups in 2004 preparing the “Handbook on Cervical Cancer Screening” and in 2005 preparing the IARC Monograph and is member of the board of the European Cervical Cancer Association (ECCA).

Infections with certain human papillomaviruses (HPV) are a necessary risk factor for the development of cervical cancer and contribute to other malignancies. Cervical Cancer is the third cancer in frequency in women worldwide with a yearly toll of 233.000 deaths. Under INCA, UTUB will investigate in a network with other members: the molecular basis of persistent replication in HPV- infected cells, in particular the role of chromatin-modifiying proteins in establishing persistent replication. the role of E3 ubiquitin ligases for the replication and immortalization potential of papillomaviruses in tissue culture and for tumour development and progression in an animal model system. the long-term positive predictive value and absolute risk of a persistent infection with a specific HPV genotype in a prospective clinical trial gene expression profiles of HPV infected patients in a large, well-defined cohort in order to identify signatures that predict the development of a persistent HPV infection and/or progressive disease novel diagnostic markers for better prediction of cervical disease UTUB is the coordinator of the awareness campaign on cervical cancer in Germany

Krüger Kjaer, S., Hødgall, E., Frederiksen, K. Munk, C., van den Brule, A., Svare, E., Meijer, C., Lorinz, A., Iftner, T. 2006. The absolute risk of cervical abnormalities in high-risk human papillomavirus-positive, cytologically normal women over a 10-year period. Cancer Res. 2006 Nov 1;66(21):10630-6 Karstensen, B., Bonin, M., Walter, M., Iftner, T., Stubenrauch, F. 2006. Gene expression profiles reveal an upregulation of E2F and downregulation of interferon targets by HPV 18 but no changes between keratinocytes with integrated or episomal viral genomes. Virology 353: 200 – 209. Cuzick, J., Clavel, C., Petry, K. U., Meijer, C., Hoyer, H., Ratnam, S., Szarewski, A., Birembaut, P., Kulasingam, S., Sasieni, P., Iftner, T. 2006. Overview of the European and North American studies on HPV testing in primary cervical cancer screening. Int. J. Cancer, 119, April 3, 1095 – 1101 Hiller, T., Poppelreuther, S., Stubenrauch, F., Iftner, T. 2006. Comparative analysis of 20 genital HPV types with regard to p53 degradation, immortalization, phylogeny and epidemiological risk classification. CEBP, July,15 (7): 1262 – 1267 Behren, A., Simon, C., Schwab, R.M., Loetzsch, E., Brodbeck, S., Huber, E., Stubenrauch, F., Zenner, H.P., Iftner, T. 2005. Papillomavirus E2 Protein induces expression of the MMP-9 collagenase via the ERK/AP-1 signalling pathway. Cancer Res 2005; 65: (29), Dec. 15, 2005, 11613 – 11621 Huber E., Vlasny D., Jeckel S., Stubenrauch F., Iftner T. 2004. Gene profiling of cottontail rabbit papillomavirus-induced carcinomas identifies upregulated genes directly involved in stroma invasion as shown by siRNA mediated gene silencing.J.Virol., 2004, July, Vol. 78(14): 7478-7489. Iftner A., Klug S., Garbe C., Blum A., Stancu A., Wilczynski SP., Iftner T. 2003. The prevalence of human papillomavirus genotypes in nonmelanoma skin cancers of nonimmunosuppressed individuals identifies high-risk genital types as possible risk factors. Cancer Research, 2003, Nov 1; 63 (21): 7515-9. Zobel T., Iftner T., Stubenrauch F. 2003. The papillomavirus E8^E2C protein represses DNA replication from extrachromosomal origins. Mol.Cell. Biol., 2003, Nov; 23 (22): 8352-62. Iftner T., Elbel M., Schopp B., Hiller T., Loizou J.I., Caldecott K.W., Stubenrauch F. 2002.Interference of papillomavirus E6 protein with single-strand break repair by interaction with XRCC1. EMBO Journal Vol. 21, No. 17 (2002): 4741-4748. Iftner T., Villa L.L. 2003. Human Papillomavirus Technologies. Journal of the National Cancer Institute Mon. No. 31 (2003): 80-88.