Whilde Jenny, Mashkour Narges, Koda Samantha A, Eastman Catherine B, Thompson Drew, Burkhalter Brooke, Frandsen Hilary R, Page Annie, Blackburn Nicholas B, Jones Karina, Ariel Ellen, Dupont Sophie M, Wood Lawrence, Duffy David J
Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience and Sea Turtle Hospital, University of Florida, St Augustine, FL, United States.
National Park Service, Division of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery, Padre Island National Seashore, Corpus Christi, TX, United States.
Front Cell Dev Biol. 2024 Aug 22;12:1445438. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2024.1445438. eCollection 2024.
Marine environments offer a wealth of opportunities to improve understanding and treatment options for cancers, through insights into a range of fields from drug discovery to mechanistic insights. By applying One Health principles the knowledge obtained can benefit both human and animal populations, including marine species suffering from cancer. One such species is green sea turtles (), which are under threat from fibropapillomatosis (FP), an epizootic tumor disease (animal epidemic) that continues to spread and increase in prevalence globally. In order to effectively address this epizootic, a more thorough understanding is required of the prevalence of the disease and the approaches to treating afflicted turtles.
To identify knowledge gaps and assess future needs, we conducted a survey of sea turtle FP experts. The survey consisted of 47 questions designed to assess general perceptions of FP, the areas where more information is needed, local FP trends, the disease status, and mitigation needs, and was voluntarily completed by 44 experts across a broad geographic range.
Over 70% of respondents both recognized FP as a cancerous panzootic disease, and reported that FP is increasing in prevalence. They report several factors contributing to this increase. Nearly all of the respondents reported that FP research, patient treatment and rehabilitation required more funding in their area, and reported inadequate facilities and capacity for dealing with FP patients. Treatment approaches varied: just over 70% of the medical experts that responded surgically remove FP tumors, either using laser or scalpel. Just under half of respondents use anti-cancer drugs in their treatment of FP. Internal tumors were reported as justification for euthanasia by 61.5% of respondents, and 30.8% reported severe external tumors to be sufficient grounds for euthanasia. Most medical respondents (93.3%) routinely perform necropsy on deceased or euthanized FP-afflicted turtles. Over 80% of respondents considered large-scale multidisciplinary collaboration 'extremely important' for advancing the field of FP research.
The survey responses provide a valuable insight into the current status of FP in sea turtles, FP treatment, rehabilitation and research, and help to identify critical FP-related areas most in need of attention.
海洋环境提供了丰富的机会，通过深入了解从药物发现到机制洞察等一系列领域，来增进对癌症的理解并改善治疗方案。应用“同一健康”原则所获得的知识能够使人类和动物群体受益，包括罹患癌症的海洋物种。绿海龟就是这样一种物种，它们正受到纤维乳头瘤病（FP）的威胁，这是一种在动物中流行的肿瘤疾病（动物疫病），在全球范围内持续传播且患病率不断上升。为了有效应对这种动物疫病，需要更全面地了解该疾病的患病率以及治疗患病海龟的方法。
为了识别知识空白并评估未来需求，我们对海龟纤维乳头瘤病专家进行了一项调查。该调查由47个问题组成，旨在评估对纤维乳头瘤病的总体认知、需要更多信息的领域、当地纤维乳头瘤病的趋势、疾病状况以及缓解需求，44位来自广泛地理区域的专家自愿完成了该调查。
超过70%的受访者既认识到纤维乳头瘤病是一种癌症性的动物疫病，又报告说纤维乳头瘤病的患病率在上升。他们报告了导致这种上升的几个因素。几乎所有受访者都表示，纤维乳头瘤病的研究、患者治疗和康复在他们所在地区需要更多资金，并报告说处理纤维乳头瘤病患者的设施和能力不足。治疗方法各不相同：略超过70%做出回应的医学专家通过手术切除纤维乳头瘤病肿瘤，要么使用激光，要么使用手术刀。略不到一半的受访者在治疗纤维乳头瘤病时使用抗癌药物。61.5%的受访者将内部肿瘤作为安乐死的理由，30.8%报告严重的外部肿瘤足以成为安乐死的理由。大多数医学受访者（93.3%）会对死亡或安乐死的患纤维乳头瘤病海龟例行进行尸检。超过80%的受访者认为大规模多学科合作对于推进纤维乳头瘤病研究领域“极其重要”.
调查结果为海龟纤维乳头瘤病的现状、纤维乳头瘤病的治疗、康复和研究提供了宝贵的见解，并有助于确定最需要关注的与纤维乳头瘤病相关的关键领域。
