Baker Institute for Animal Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
Virus Res. 2017 Oct 15;242:30-36. doi: 10.1016/j.virusres.2017.09.002. Epub 2017 Sep 18.
Horses commonly develop gastric mucosal ulcers, similar to humans, a condition known as equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) that can lead to poor performance and lost training time and care expenses. Unlike humans, however, an infectious bacterial cause of ulcers has not been conclusively identified. Herpesviruses, while well-established causative agents of diseases such as cold sores, genital lesions, and certain types of cancer, have also been implicated in the development of a subset of gastric ulcers in humans. The presence of equid herpesviruses in the gastrointestinal tract and their potential contribution to EGUS has not been evaluated. Here, we provide the first evidence of equid gammaherpesviruses 2 and 5 (EHV-2 and -5) within the epithelium of the gastric mucosa of horses. These viruses were initially detected by a nested PCR screen of gastric tissue samples obtained from client- and university-owned horses with and without ulcers; however, no association with EGUS was found in this limited sample set. We then validated a highly sensitive in situ hybridization (ISH) assay and used this assay to characterize the distribution of these viruses in necropsy gastric tissue samples from five racehorses. Analyses revealed frequent EHV-2 and EHV-5 co-infections within the gastric mucosal epithelium, regardless of the ulcer status. These results are the first to demonstrate the presence of equid gammaherpesviruses in the gastric mucosa of horses and warrants further investigation to determine the contribution of these viruses to the development of EGUS and/or other gastrointestinal diseases.
马通常会患上类似于人类的胃黏膜溃疡，这种疾病被称为马属动物溃疡综合征（EGUS），可导致表现不佳、训练时间损失和医疗费用增加。然而，与人类不同的是，尚未明确确定溃疡的传染性细菌病因。疱疹病毒虽然是唇疱疹、生殖器病变和某些类型癌症等疾病的明确致病因子，但也与人类胃的一部分溃疡的发展有关。在胃肠道中存在马属疱疹病毒及其对 EGUS 的潜在贡献尚未得到评估。在这里，我们首次在马的胃黏膜上皮中发现了马属γ疱疹病毒 2 型和 5 型（EHV-2 和 EHV-5）。这些病毒最初是通过对来自有溃疡和无溃疡的客户和大学拥有的马的胃组织样本进行巢式 PCR 筛选检测到的；然而，在这个有限的样本集中，没有发现与 EGUS 相关的证据。然后，我们验证了一种高灵敏度的原位杂交（ISH）检测，并使用该检测方法来描述来自五匹赛马的尸检胃组织样本中这些病毒的分布。分析表明，无论溃疡状态如何，在胃黏膜上皮中经常会发生 EHV-2 和 EHV-5 的共同感染。这些结果首次证明了马属动物γ疱疹病毒存在于马的胃黏膜中，需要进一步研究以确定这些病毒对 EGUS 和/或其他胃肠道疾病发展的贡献。
