Overview
Background
Associate Professor Annika Antonsson is a virologist with epidemiological training. Viruses can cause cancer, and Annika’s research has been focused on human papillomavirus (HPV) and its role in different types of cancer. HPV is the virus that causes cervical cancer.
Her current main research areas are oral HPV infections in the general population and HPV in mouth and throat cancer (mucosal squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck; HNSCC).
Some cancers of the mouth and throat are increasing and some of this increase is caused by HPV infection. HPV is a sexually transmitted infection and changing sexual behaviour is believed to have caused the increase in HPV-positive tumours of the mouth and throat. Annika is investigating how often HPV in found in HNSCCs and if there are any lifestyle factors linked with having HPV or not to have HPV in tumours.
It is not known how common the potentially cancer-causing viruses are in the mouth of the general population, and this is another area of research Annika is looking into. She has also worked on HPV in skin (normal skin and cancer), infections in breast carcinogenesis, HPV in oesophageal cancer and polyomaviruses in normal skin and skin cancer.
Availability
- Associate Professor Annika Antonsson is:
- Available for supervision
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, Institution to be confirmed
Research interests
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The Oral Diversity Study
Oral HPV infection in vaccinated and unvaccinated people
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The Oral Health Study
Oral HPV infection in the general population
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The PAH/QIMRB Head and Neck Cancer Study
Human papillomavirus infection and risk factors in head and neck cancer patients
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HPV and microRNA in oropharyngeal cancers
comparing microRNA expression in HPV positive and HPV negative oropharyngeal cancers
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CHANNEL (Care of Head And Neck cancer Needs EvaLuation Study)
a quality of life and supportive care needs study of patients with head and neck cancer
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Indigenous Oral HPV
Longitudinal study of oral HPV infection and risk factors associated with infection in Indigenous Australians
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Breast cancer microbiome
Profiling the intratumoural microbiome in breast cancer and control tissue
Research impacts
- Oral HPV infection in people vaccinated with Gardasil® and unvaccinated people. We will investigate if people who have been vaccinated against HPV have the same or different HPV types compared to unvaccinated people
- Natural history of oral HPV infection. We have been investigating how common oral HPV infection is in the general population in Australia, and if oral HPV infection is linked to lifestyle or sexual behaviours. We have also studied how often people get a new oral HPV infection (incidence) and how long oral HPV infections last for (persistence)
- HPV and head and neck cancer (cancers of mouth and throat). We have been investigating risk factors for HPV in head and neck cancer. We have looked at differences in lifestyle factors and host SNPs in patients with HPV-positive vs HPV-negative tumours and are currently looking into miRNA regulation. We have found high HPV prevalence (most commonly HPV-16), especially in younger individuals and in cancers of the tonsil
- HPV and oesophageal cancer. Very low prevalence of HPV detected in tumours, suggesting that HPV is not associated with oesophageal cancer (both cancer types squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma)
- HPV and breast cancer. The viral role of breast cancer is still under debate. In our Australian breast cancer cohort we found HPV, but very low viral load. We found low prevalences of other DNA tumour viruses in this dataset. We are currently looking for viral sequences by deep sequencing of breast cancer
- HPV in normal skin. Annika was involved in developing a new revolutionary tool that detects the majority of HPV types, the FAP (Forslund-Antonsson-Primer). The FAP has, over the years isolated most known HPVs plus hundreds of new, previously unknown skin HPVs in both humans and animals. FAP has explosively expanded the phylogenetic papillomavirus tree She has used the FAP in several publications to show the very high HPV prevalence and abundance of HPV types present in healthy skin in people of all ages across the globe
Works
Search Professor Annika Antonsson’s works on UQ eSpace
2009
Journal Article
Shared and persistent asymptomatic cutaneous human papillomavirus infections in healthy skin
Hsu, J. Y. -C., Chen, A. C. H., Keleher, A., McMillan, N. A. J. and Antonsson, A. (2009). Shared and persistent asymptomatic cutaneous human papillomavirus infections in healthy skin. Journal of Medical Virology, 81 (8), 1444-1449. doi: 10.1002/jmv.21529
2008
Journal Article
Human papillomavirus type spectrum in normal skin of individuals with or without a history of frequent sun exposure
Chen, Alice Che-Ha, McMillan, Nigel A. J. and Antonsson, Annika (2008). Human papillomavirus type spectrum in normal skin of individuals with or without a history of frequent sun exposure. Journal of General Virology, 89 (11), 2891-2897. doi: 10.1099/vir.0.2008/003665-0
2006
Journal Article
The human papillomavirus type 16 E7 protein binds human interferon regulatory factor-9 via a novel PEST domain required for transformation
Antonsson, Annika, Payne, Elizabeth, Hengst, Kylie and McMillan, Nigel A. J. (2006). The human papillomavirus type 16 E7 protein binds human interferon regulatory factor-9 via a novel PEST domain required for transformation. Journal of Interferon And Cytokine Research, 26 (7), 455-461. doi: 10.1089/jir.2006.26.455
2006
Journal Article
Papillomavirus in healthy skin of Australian animals
Antonsson, Annika and McMillan, Nigel A. J. (2006). Papillomavirus in healthy skin of Australian animals. Journal of General Virology, 87 (11), 3195-3200. doi: 10.1099/vir.0.82195-0
2005
Journal Article
Strong association between infection with human papillomavirus and oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: A population-based case-control study in southern Sweden
Hansson B.G., Rosenquist K., Antonsson A., Wennerberg J., Schildt E.-B., Bladstrom A. and Andersson G. (2005). Strong association between infection with human papillomavirus and oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: A population-based case-control study in southern Sweden. Acta Oto-Laryngologica, 125 (12), 1337-1344. doi: 10.1080/00016480510043945
2003
Journal Article
Nucleotide sequence and phyogenetic classification of candidate human papilloma virus type 92
Forslund, O, Antonsson, A, Higgins, G, Ly, H, Delius, H, Hunziker, A and de Villiers, EM (2003). Nucleotide sequence and phyogenetic classification of candidate human papilloma virus type 92. Virology, 312 (2), 255-260. doi: 10.1016/S0042-6822(03)00391-X
2003
Journal Article
Prevalence and type spectrum of human papillomaviruses in healthy skin samples collected in three continents
Antonsson, A, Erfurt, C, Hazard, K, Holmgren, , Simon, M, Kataoka, A, Hossain, S, Hakangard, C and Hansson, BG (2003). Prevalence and type spectrum of human papillomaviruses in healthy skin samples collected in three continents. Journal of General Virology, 84, 1881-1886. doi: 10.1099/vir.0.18836-0
2003
Journal Article
General acquisition of human papillomavirus infections of skin occurs in early infancy
Antonsson, A, Karanfilovska, S, Lindqvist, PG and Hansson, BG (2003). General acquisition of human papillomavirus infections of skin occurs in early infancy. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 41 (6), 2509-2514. doi: 10.1128/JCM.41.6.2509-2514.2003
2002
Journal Article
Healthy skin of many animal species harbors papillomaviruses which are closely related to their human counterparts
Antonsson, A and Hansson, BG (2002). Healthy skin of many animal species harbors papillomaviruses which are closely related to their human counterparts. Journal of Virology, 76 (24), 12537-12542. doi: 10.1128/JVI.76.24.12537-12542.2002
2002
Journal Article
Population-based type-specific prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus infection in middle-aged Swedish women. (vol 66, pg 535, 2002)
Forslund, O, Antonsson, A, Edlund, K, van den Brule, AJC, Hansson, BG, Meijer, CJLM, Ryd, W, Rylander, E, Strand, A, Wadell, G, Dillner, J and Johansson, B (2002). Population-based type-specific prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus infection in middle-aged Swedish women. (vol 66, pg 535, 2002). Journal of Medical Virology, 67 (3), 467-467.
2002
Journal Article
Population-based type-specific prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus infection in middle-aged Swedish women
Forslund, O, Antonsson, A, Edlund, K, van den Brule, AJC, Hansson, BG, Meijer, CJLM, Ryd, W, Strand, A, Wadell, G, Dillner, J and Johansson, B (2002). Population-based type-specific prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus infection in middle-aged Swedish women. Journal of Medical Virology, 66 (4), 535-541. doi: 10.1002/jmv.2178
2001
Journal Article
Binding of human and animal immunoglobulins to the IgG Fe receptor induced by human cytomegalovirus
Antonsson, A and Johansson, PJH (2001). Binding of human and animal immunoglobulins to the IgG Fe receptor induced by human cytomegalovirus. Journal of General Virology, 82 (5), 1137-1145. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-82-5-1137
2001
Journal Article
Epidermodysplasia verruciformis defines a subset of cutaneous human papillomaviruses - Authors' reply
Antonsson, A, Forslund, O, Hansson, BG, Ekberg, H and Sterner, G (2001). Epidermodysplasia verruciformis defines a subset of cutaneous human papillomaviruses - Authors' reply. Journal of Virology, 75 (10), 4952-4953.
1999
Journal Article
A broad range of human papillomavirus types detected with a general PCR method suitable for analysis of cutaneous tumours and normal skin
Forslund, Ola, Antonsson, Annika, Nordin, Peter, Stenquist, Bo and Göran Hansson, Bengt (1999). A broad range of human papillomavirus types detected with a general PCR method suitable for analysis of cutaneous tumours and normal skin. The Journal of General Virology, 80 ( Pt 9), 2437-2443. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-80-9-2437
Funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Associate Professor Annika Antonsson is:
- Available for supervision
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Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Is indigenous status, socioeconomic indexes for areas (SEIFA) or remoteness associated with survival in head and neck cancer patients?
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Ben Panizza
Completed supervision
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2017
Master Philosophy
Evaluating cellular microRNA expression in human papillomavirus associated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Ben Panizza
Media
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