Detection of Equus Caballus Papillomavirus Type-2 in Asymptomatic Italian Horses
Katia Cappelli,
Chiara Grazia De Ciucis,
Samanta Mecocci,
Tiziana Nervo,
Maria Ines Crescio,
Marco Pepe,
Rodolfo Gialletti,
Daniele Pietrucci,
Laura Federica Migone,
Silvia Turco,
Luca Mechelli,
Fabrizio Passamonti,
Carlo Drago,
Gian Guido Donato,
Katia Varello,
Paola Modesto,
Giovanni Chillemi,
Alessandro Ghelardi,
Elisabetta Razzuoli
Affiliations
Katia Cappelli
Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, 06126 Perugia, Italy
Chiara Grazia De Ciucis
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d’Aosta, National Reference Center of Veterinary and comparative Oncology (CEROVEC), 16129 Genova, Italy
Samanta Mecocci
Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, 06126 Perugia, Italy
Tiziana Nervo
Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy
Maria Ines Crescio
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d’Aosta, National Reference Center of Veterinary and comparative Oncology (CEROVEC), 16129 Genova, Italy
Marco Pepe
Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, 06126 Perugia, Italy
Rodolfo Gialletti
Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, 06126 Perugia, Italy
Daniele Pietrucci
Dipartimento per la Innovazione nei sistemi biologici, agroalimentari e forestali (DIBAF), Università degli Studi della Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Laura Federica Migone
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d’Aosta, National Reference Center of Veterinary and comparative Oncology (CEROVEC), 16129 Genova, Italy
Silvia Turco
Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali (DAFNE), Università degli Studi della Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Luca Mechelli
Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, 06126 Perugia, Italy
Fabrizio Passamonti
Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, 06126 Perugia, Italy
Carlo Drago
Dipartimento di Statistica Economica, Università degli Studi Niccolò Cusano, 00166 Roma, Italy
Gian Guido Donato
Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy
Katia Varello
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d’Aosta, National Reference Center of Veterinary and comparative Oncology (CEROVEC), 16129 Genova, Italy
Paola Modesto
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d’Aosta, National Reference Center of Veterinary and comparative Oncology (CEROVEC), 16129 Genova, Italy
Giovanni Chillemi
Dipartimento per la Innovazione nei sistemi biologici, agroalimentari e forestali (DIBAF), Università degli Studi della Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Alessandro Ghelardi
Azienda USL Toscana Nord-Ovest UOC Ostetricia e Ginecologia, Nuovo Ospedale Apuane, 54100 Massa, Italy
Elisabetta Razzuoli
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d’Aosta, National Reference Center of Veterinary and comparative Oncology (CEROVEC), 16129 Genova, Italy
Equine Papillomavirus 2 (EcPV2) is responsible for squamous cell carcinomas (eSCCs) of external genitalia of both male and female horses. However, few studies report the EcPV2 prevalence among healthy horses. Currently, the lack of these data does not permit identifying at-risk populations and, thus, developing screening protocols aimed at the early detection of the infection, as for humans. The aim of our study was to estimate the genoprevalence of EcPV2 in clinically healthy horses in Italy and to evaluate their innate immune response. For this purpose, penile and vulvar swabs of 234 healthy horses were collected through sampling with sterile cytobrushes. Nucleic acids were isolated and EcPV2-L1 presence (DNA) and gene expression (RNA) were checked by RT-qPCR. Our results showed EcPV2-L1 DNA presence in 30.3% of the samples and L1 expression in 48% of the positive samples. No statistically significant differences were found in genoprevalence in relation to sex, age, and origin, while, concerning breeds, the Thoroughbred had the highest risk of infection. Concerning specifically the mares, 40.2% of them resulted in being positive for EcPV2; our findings show a major positivity in pluriparous (p = 0.0111) and mares subjected to natural reproduction (p = 0.0037). Moreover, samples expressing L1 showed an increased expression of IL1B (p = 0.0139) and IL12p40 (p = 0.0133) and a decreased expression of RANKL (p = 0.0229) and TGFB (p = 0.0177). This finding suggests the presence of an effective immune response, which could explain the low incidence of SCCs in positive horses, despite a high EcPV2 genoprevalence (30%).