The large tumor antigen: A “Swiss Army knife” protein possessing the functions required for the polyomavirus life cycle

► A comparison between the L-Tag and E1 shows high similarity in the binding to the ORI. ► Polyoma- and papillomavirus helicases adopt a hexameric form to unwind the viral DNA. ► E6 and E7 share conserved motifs with the L-Tag for the inactivation of p53 and Rb. ► Compounds targeting the helicases of polyoma- and papillomavirus are presented.