igh Occurrence of Chelonid Alphaherpesvirus 5 (ChHV5) in Green Sea Turtles Chelonia mydas with and without Fibropapillomatosis in Feeding Areas of the Sao Paulo Coast, Brazi

Author(s)

Zamana, Roberta Ramblas ^[1] ; Gattamorta, Marco Aurelio ^{[1, 2]} ; Cruz Ochoa, Pablo Felipe ^{[1, 3]} ; Navas-Suarez, Pedro Enrique ^[1] ; Sacristan, Carlos ^[1] ; Rossi, Silmara ^[4] ; Hildebrand Grisi-Filho, Jose Henrique ^[5] ; Silva, Isabela Santos ^[1] ; Matushima, Eliana Reiko ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Fac Med Vet & Zootecnia, Dept Patol, Lab Patol Comparada Anim Selvagens, BR-05508010 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[2] Inst Fed Sao Paulo, Campus Cubatao, Rua Maria Cristina 50, BR-11533160 Cubatao, SP - Brazil

^[3] Bioparque Los Ocarros, Kilometro 3 Via Restrepo, Villavicencio - Colombia

^[4] Univ Fed Rio Grande do Norte, Ctr Biociencias, Dept Morfol, Lab Morfofisiol Vertebrados, Campus Univ Lagoa Nova, BR-59072970 Natal, RN - Brazil

^[5] Univ Sao Paulo, Fac Med Vet & Zootecnia, Dept Med Vet Prevent & Saude Anim, Lab Epidemiol & Estat, BR-05508010 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: JOURNAL OF AQUATIC ANIMAL HEALTH; v. 33, n. 4 OCT 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Chelonid alphaherpesvirus 5 (ChHV5) has been consistently associated with fibropapillomatosis (FP), a neoplastic disease that affects sea turtles globally. The DNA of ChHV5 has been detected in cutaneous and noncutaneous tissues (e.g., lung) of green sea turtles Chelonia mydas with (FP+) and without (FP-) clinical signs of FP, indicating a persistent ChHV5 infection. Previously published and custom primer pairs were used to amplify the fragments of ChHV5 unique long (UL) partial genes (UL30 and UL18) through end-point PCR from cutaneous tumors (n = 31), nontumored skin (n = 49), and lungs (n = 26) from FP+ (n = 31) and FP- (n = 18) green sea turtles. The DNA of ChHV5 was detected in cutaneous tumors (80.6%, 25/31), nontumored skin (74.2%, 23/31 FP+; 27.8%, 5/18 FP-), and lung samples (91.7%, 11/12 FP+; 100%, 14/14 FP-). The high occurrence of ChHV5 observed in lung samples from FP- individuals was unexpected (14/14), providing the first evidence of ChHV5 DNA presence in lungs of individuals without FP. Our results also revealed high ChHV5 occurrence among the tested cohort (93.9%, 46/49) and suggested that a large proportion (83.4%, 15/18) of FP- green sea turtles had subclinical ChHV5 infections. Hence, our findings support the hypothesis that ChHV5 requires one or more possibly environmental or immune-related co-factors to induce FP. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 18/25069-7 - Study and characterization of selected emerging viral agents and potentially associated with hepatopathies in coastal, pelagic and mixed habitat cetaceans in Brazil
• Grantee: Carlos Sacristan Yague
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 12/14319-6 - Ecology and etiology of fibropapillomatosis in Chelonia mydas (Testudines, Cheloniidae) populations: structure of populations and the role of polychlorinated biphenyls and toxic potentially metals for the development of diseases
• Grantee: Eliana Reiko Matushima
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants