Papillomavirus in Wildlife

Abstract

Papillomaviruses (PV) are associated with epithelial malignancies in animals, including cancer in humans. Limited knowledge exists regarding the evolutionary history of non-human PV. We assessed the phylogeography of PV with emphasis in wildlife hosts. We explored the phylogenetic, geographic, and environmental relationships of PV and hosts applying Bayesian inference and spatial analyses of virus and hosts. We found that the available wildlife PV data support previous reports on the higher incidence of fibropapillomatosis over carcinoma in humans and wildlife, being mammals the most common host. We also found geographic bias on the available wildlife papillomavirus (WPV) information toward the Northern Hemisphere, which may have influenced our results to show Europe as the most likely origin of the available WPV lineages. Therefore, we highlight the need for detailed studies on the presence of WPV in regions and species not included in this study (e.g., reptiles from the tropics) to better inform sites of WPV origin, susceptible species, and spillover potential. Future studies of the clinical and subclinical occurrence, distribution, and phylogenetic signatures of WPV may help to understand the spread, virulence, and epidemiology of PV in general. From an evolutionary perspective, our overview suggests that WPV are a promising host-pathogen system to untangle questions regarding co-evolution due to its large geographic distribution and occurrence in a wide variety of aquatic and terrestrial wildlife species.

Mandibular Ossifying Fibroma and Multiple Oral Papillomas in a Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus)

“…Cutaneous papillomas and fibropapillomas have been reported in several cervids species. These skin tumors have been repeatedly associated with species-specific PV, although this association might be more complex than previously considered (14). Genomes of deer-(White-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus) (26), Reindeer-(Rangifer tarandus) (10), European Elk-(Alces alces) (27), Roe deer-(Capreolus capreolus) (15), and Red deer-(Cervus elaphus) papillomavirus (12) have been sequenced and they have all been demonstrated to be member of the Delta-papillomavirus genus.…”

“…Papillomas and fibropapillomas have been reported in a wide range of domestic and wild animals including several cervid species, such as white-tailed (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in North America (8), European elk (Alces alces) (9) and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in Sweden (10), red deer (Cervus elaphus) in Scotland (11), as well as red deer and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) in Hungary (12,13). Speciesspecific papillomaviruses (PV), whose origin has been recently traced to the European continent (14), were frequently detected in association with these tumors. Fibropapillomas in roe deer most commonly develop on the skin of the head, neck, abdomen and limbs of the affected animal (15).…”

A Comprehensive Study of Cutaneous Fibropapillomatosis in Free-Ranging Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) and Red Deer (Cervus elaphus): from Clinical Manifestations to Whole-Genome Sequencing of Papillomaviruses

“…The traditional PV types within a species share between 71 and 89% nucleotide identity within the complete L1 ORF [41]. Most of the effort applied to understand the evolution of PVs and their classification has been focused on HPVs and PVs in domestic animals, such as BPV types [10]. There are limited studies available concerning PVs from wildlife hosts [42,45], representing a gap in knowledge regarding our understanding of the evolution and diversification of PVs in the wild [10].…”

“…Most of these viruses are species-specific [5,6], but cross-infections have also been reported [5,[7][8][9]. It was reported that some animal species are often infected by PVs belonging to different taxonomic groups [10][11][12]. Cross-infections with Deltapapillomavirus BPV-1, BPV-2 and CePV-1 have been identified in the healthy skin of wild ruminants, and cross-infections with BPVs from the genus Xipapillomavirus have been identified, both as single infections and in association with Deltapapillomavirus BPV-1 and BPV-2 [13,14].…”

“…PVs are responsible for skin and mucosa infections of humans and various animals, in which they can appear asymptomatic or cause different neoplastic changes, ranging from self-limited warts to cancers [5,10,12,13]. In cervids, most of the detected PVs belong to the Deltapapillomavirus genus and cause neoplastic changes described as fibromas, papillomas, fibropapillomas or warts [15].…”