Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Papillomavirus genes found in cat skin cancer tissues in Japan
By Uchimura, Yuki et al.·Published in The Journal of veterinary medical science·2025·Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Detection of Felis catus papillomavirus-derived genes in squamous cell carcinoma tissues in cats in Japan.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of cats with squamous cell carcinoma (a type of skin cancer) in Japan was tested for a virus called Felis catus papillomavirus (FcaPV), which is thought to be linked to this cancer. Out of 107 cats, 16 were found to have the virus, with FcaPV-2 being the most common type detected. This study highlighted that the prevalence of FcaPV-2 in Japanese cats with this cancer is lower than in other countries. Additionally, this research marked the first detection of two other types of the virus (FcaPV-6 and FcaPV-7) in Japan.
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Abstract
Felis catus papillomavirus (FcaPV) was first discovered in 2002. Seven genotypes (FcaPV-1/-2/-3/-4/-5/-6/-7) have been reported to date, at least one of which (FcaPV-2) is suggested to be implicated in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC); however, relevant epidemiological data on Japanese cats are limited. There is one report on relatively low FcaPV-2 prevalence in cats with SCC, largely in the Tokyo region. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of each FcaPV genotype in cats with SCC largely drawn from a peripheral region of Japan (Kyushu). Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimens from 107 cats with SCC were subjected to DNA extraction for type-specific PCR assays, followed by confirmatory nucleotide sequencing. Overall, 16 cases (15.0%) were positive for FcaPV, and the results detected for FcaPV-1/-2/-3/-4/-5/-6/-7 were 0/107 (0.0%), 7/107 (6.5%), 4/107 (3.7%), 1/107 (0.9%), 3/107 (2.8%), 1/107 (0.9%), and 1/107 (0.9%), respectively. Our results suggest that FcaPV-2 is the prevalent papillomavirus type in cats with SCC across Japan, but the figure is lower than in other countries. This is also the first report on the detection of FcaPV-6 and FcaPV-7 in Japan, which previously have only been reported in Australia and New Zealand, respectively.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40240147/