Cutarelli Anna, Buonavoglia Alessio, Fusco Giovanna, Pellicanò Roberta, Napoletano Michele, Brandt Sabine, Roperto Sante
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno, Portici, Naples, Italy.
Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Neuromotorie, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 11;15(1):29414. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-15353-6.
Sarcoids are benign and locally aggressive skin lesions that commonly affect horses and other equid species. Sarcoids are generally considered to be caused by bovine delta-papillomaviruses (δPVs) types 1 and 2 (BPV1 and BPV2, respectively). Moreover, while bovine δPV types 13 and 14 (BPV13 and BPV14, respectively) are also suspected to induce sarcoids, information regarding this possibility and the occurrence of multiple bovine δPV infections in sarcoids is scarce. This study aimed, for the first time, to assess BPV1, BPV2, BPV13, and BPV14 infections and co-infections in equine sarcoid samples of Austrian provenance, and to determine the intralesional DNA loads of the detected bovine δPV types using highly sensitive droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR). BPV DNA was detected in 93 sarcoid samples. The analyses revealed that BPV1 was the predominant bovine δPV type in sarcoids from Austria, with 83/93 lesions testing BPV1-positive. Importantly, 66 tumors also contained BPV2 DNA. In six cases, a triple infection including BPV13 or BPV14 was noted, and one lesion showed a quadruple infection. This is the first ddPCR-based study to show multiple infections by all four bovine δPVs in equine sarcoids. Clinical data suggest that BPV1/2 co-infection may be associated with more severe and therapy-resistant disease. In-depth studies are required to investigate this possibility in greater detail.
肉样瘤是良性且具有局部侵袭性的皮肤病变，通常影响马匹和其他马科动物。肉样瘤一般被认为是由1型和2型牛δ乳头瘤病毒（分别为BPV1和BPV2）引起的。此外，虽然也怀疑13型和14型牛δ乳头瘤病毒（分别为BPV13和BPV14）可诱发肉样瘤，但关于这种可能性以及肉样瘤中多种牛δ乳头瘤病毒感染情况的信息却很少。本研究首次旨在评估来自奥地利的马肉样瘤样本中的BPV1、BPV2、BPV13和BPV14感染及合并感染情况，并使用高灵敏度的滴液数字聚合酶链反应（ddPCR）测定所检测到的牛δ乳头瘤病毒类型的病灶内DNA载量。在93个肉样瘤样本中检测到了BPV DNA。分析显示，BPV1是奥地利肉样瘤中主要的牛δ乳头瘤病毒类型，93个病灶中有83个检测为BPV1阳性。重要的是，66个肿瘤中也含有BPV2 DNA。在6例病例中，发现了包括BPV13或BPV14的三重感染，1个病灶显示为四重感染。这是第一项基于ddPCR的研究，表明马肉样瘤中存在所有四种牛δ乳头瘤病毒的多重感染。临床数据表明，BPV1/2合并感染可能与更严重且难治的疾病有关。需要进行深入研究以更详细地调查这种可能性。
