Equine papillomavirus detection in aural plaques by qPCR

Zakia, Luiza SHerman, MarianaBasso, Roberta MHernadez, Juliana MAraujo Jr, Joao PBorges, Alexandre SOliveira-Filho, Jose P

Papillomatosis occupy a prominent position both in human and veterinary medicine, since it is a viral skin disease with potential to develop malignancy. Equus caballus papillomavirus (EcPV) are associated with several diseases in horses, i.e. classical papillomatosis associated with EcPV 1; squamous cell carcinoma associated with EcPV 2; tumors in mucous membranes on the genital area (EcPV 2 and EcPV 7); aural plaque associated with EcPV 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6; and equine sarcoid, associated with bovine papillomavirus (BPV 1 and 2). The aural plaque is characterized by small papules (1-2 cm), hypochromic and keratinized on the internal surface of the pinnae and can evolve and coalesce into larger lesions. To obtain a specific diagnostic test, both sensitive and fast to identify these viruses, a quantitative real time PCR (qPCR) was standardized for EcPV 3, 4, 5 and 6. Applying the qPCR technique in the 103 equine aural plaque samples resulted in 90.29% of at least one viral type prevalence, which was distributed as following: EcPV3, 36.89%; EcPV4, 82.52%; EcPV5, 0.97%; and EcPV6, 10.68%. This study represents an evolution in the area related to aural plaque and equine papillomatosis and raises new questions for future research.(AU)

1. EcPV
2. aural plaque
3. Horse
4. real-time PCR