A Century of Shope Papillomavirus in Museum Rabbit Specimens.

Sylvilagus floridanus Papillomavirus (SfPV) causes growth of large horn-like tumors on rabbits. SfPV was described in cottontail rabbits (probably Sylvilagus floridanus) from Kansas and Iowa by Richard Shope in 1933, and detected in S. audubonii in 2011. It is known almost exclusively from the US Midwest. We explored the University of Kansas Natural History Museum for historical museum specimens infected with SfPV, using molecular techniques, to assess if additional wild species host SfPV, and whether SfPV occurs throughout the host range, or just in the Midwest. Secondary aims were to detect distinct strains, and evidence for strain spatio-temporal specificity. We found 20 of 1395 rabbits in the KU collection SfPV symptomatic. Three of 17 lagomorph species (S. nuttallii, and the two known hosts) were symptomatic, while Brachylagus, Lepus and eight additional Sylvilagus species were not. 13 symptomatic individuals were positive by molecular testing, including the first S. nuttallii detection. Prevalence of symptomatic individuals was significantly higher in Sylvilagus (1.8%) than Lepus. Half of these specimens came from Kansas, though new molecular detections were obtained from Jalisco-Mexico's first-and Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas, USA. We document the oldest lab-confirmed case (Kansas, 1915), pre-dating Shope's first case. SfPV amplification was possible from 63.2% of symptomatic museum specimens. Using multiple methodologies, rolling circle amplification and, multiple isothermal displacement amplification in addition to PCR, greatly improved detection rates. Short sequences were obtained from six individuals for two genes. L1 gene sequences were identical to all previously detected sequences; E7 gene sequences, were more variable, yielding five distinct SfPV1 strains that differing by less than 2% from strains circulating in the Midwest and Mexico, between 1915 and 2005. Our results do not clarify whether strains are host species specific, though they are consistent with SfPV specificity to genus Sylvilagus.

Generacion de anticuerpos monoclonales contra el virus del papilloma humano / Generation of monoclonal antibodies to human papillomavirus

Los virus del papilloma humano estan asociados estrechamente con el cancer de cuello de utero. Se ha demostrado que los virus 6 y 11 estan asociados con las lesiones premalignas, mientras que los 16 y 18 a las lesiones malignas del cancer cervical. En el presente trabajo se describe la obtencion de un anticuerpo monoclonal murino contra el virus 16 del pailloma humano, utilizando el metodo convencional de fusion somatica, el cual reconoce por inmunohistoquimica sobre cortes de tejido de biopsias de cervix uterino las celulas coilociticas y disqueratosicas ubicadas en las capas mas superficiales del epitelio infectado. La presencia del virus tipo 16 de las muestras analizadas se comprobo por estudios de hibridacion in situ realizadas con anterioridad. El uso de este anticuerpo monoclonal en Anatomia Patologica permitira el diagnostico de la presencia del virus 16 del papiloma humano en aquellas muestras que presenten las atipias celulares caracteristicas de esta enfermedad