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Identification of hepadnavirus in the sera of cats

2019; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 9; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/s41598-019-47175-8

2045-2322

Gianvito Lanave, Paolo Capozza, Georgia Diakoudi, Cristiana Catella, Leonardo Catucci, Paola Ghergo, Fabio Stasi, Vanessa R. Barrs, Julia A. Beatty, Nicola Decaro, Canio Buonavoglia, Vito Martella, Michele Camero,

Viral gastroenteritis research and epidemiology

Abstract Hepadnaviruses infect several animal species. The prototype species, human hepatitis B virus (HBV), increases the risk of liver diseases and may cause cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Recently a novel hepadnavirus, similar to HBV, has been identified through transcriptomics studies in a domestic cat with large cell lymphoma in Australia. Herewith, a collection of 390 feline serum samples was screened for hepadnavirus. Overall, the virus was identified in 10.8% of the sera with a significantly higher prevalence (17.8%) in the sera of animals with a clinical suspect of infectious disease. Upon genome sequencing, the virus was closely related (97.0% nt identity) to the prototype Australian feline virus Sydney 2016. The mean and median values of hepadnavirus in the feline sera were 1.3 × 10 6 and 2.1 × 10 4 genome copies per mL (range 3.3 × 10 0 –2.5 × 10 7 genome copies per mL). For a subset of hepadnavirus-positive samples, information on the hemato-chemical parameters was available and in 10/20 animals a profile suggestive of liver damage was present. Also, in 7/10 animals with suspected hepatic disease, virus load was >10 4 genome copies per mL, i.e. above the threshold considered at risk of active hepatitis and liver damage for HBV.