Etiopathological investigations on cutaneous/mucosal warts in large ruminants and experimental studies on effects of Pteris cretica-BPV interaction and quercetin on DMBA induced tumours in hamsters

In present investigation etiopathological studies on cutaneous/mucosal warts in large ruminants, equine cutaneous lesions/tumours and experimental studies on effects of Pteris cretica-BPV interaction and quercetin on DMBA induced tumours in hamsters were undertaken. Beside investigations on cutaneous and mucosal papillomatosis in cattle and buffaloes, first systemic study on equine cutaneous lesions/tumours was also carried out. Systemic study on the gastrointestinal lesions/warts of buffaloes revealed the presence of growths on mucosa of rumen and reticulum. This is first systemic study of and record on reticular papillomatosis in buffaloes. Cutaneous warts of cattle and buffaloes revealed the presence of BPV-l, -2 and -5 alone or their mixed infections. This was for the first time in India that BPV-5 was detected in these warts. Teat warts revealed the presence of BPV-l and -2 alone or their mixed infections. Ruminal and reticular warts of buffaloes revealed the presence of BPV-l, -2 and -5 alone or their mixed infections. This is for the first time that BPV-5 was detected in reticular warts. A total of 178 urinary bladders from non enzootic areas for EBH-like Bareilly and Haldwani revealed a negligible prevalence of neoplastic lesions but epithelial abnormalities viz. hyperplasia and inflammatory conditions-like lymphocytic cystitis predominated. Only a single case of hemangiosarcoma was recorded in buffalo. Of these, only one case of plasmolymphocytic and hemangiosarcoma showed positivity for BPV-1/-2 DNA by PCR. Quantitative real time PCR revealed varied copy numbers in the DNA samples of different warts/lesions positive for different BPVs. In general, high copy numbers were present in cattle warts while low in buffalo warts. Phylogenetic analysis of the 22 sequences obtained in present study showed the close homology with the previous published sequences of BPV-l, -2 and -5 from India and different parts of world. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) revealed that the Ki-67 immunopositivity was present in the basal and spinosum layer of the fibropapilloma/papilloma indicating these as the cellular proliferation site. However, only a few number of samples showed immunopositivity for COX-2. IHC of urinary bladder lesions/tumour revealed a mild expression of Ki-67 and COX-2. Study of equine cutaneous neoplasms revealed occurrence of equine sarcoid and SCC with positivity of either BPV-1 or -2 and their mixed infections.