Papillomaviruses cause epithelial tumors including cervical cancer, which is a leading cause of cancer deaths in women and is an AIDS-associated malignancy. The papillomavirus E6 oncoprotein plays a critical role in virus replication and is essential in the development of cervical cancer. A molecular structure of E6 is critical for the design of therapeutic strategies. Unfortunately, elucidating the structure of the E6 protein has remained elusive for decades because the physical properties of E6 have frustrated structural studies. This application has overcome these difficulties and will solve the solution structure of E6 by NMR techniques. The structural features of E6 at the atomic level will be correlated to its multiple biological functions.