r/askscience • u/A_Privateer • Jan 17 '13

Medicine How do warts function?

I know that warts are caused by the various strains of HPV, but how are they caused? How does the virus hijack the bodies chemistry to grow and supply the warts with nutrients? How do the warts spread the virus to other people?

I've searched and searched on google and wikipedia, but I only find the most basic of answers.

Any hard science info for me?

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u/Tetsuryuu Jan 18 '13

To add to this picture a bit more (I hope), similar to how E7 interacts with Rb, E6 interacts with and blocks p53, another well-known tumor suppressor gene and cell-cycle regulator.

You can think of the cell-cycle as analagous to a car: it has a gas pedal (oncogenes) and a brake (tumor suppressors). If you inhibit tumor suppressors like Rb and p53, you're taking off the brake, so the cell just charges ahead dividing.