Genital Cancer in Horses Linked to Newly Discovered Virus

A newly discovered virus might be a cause of equine genital cancer, an aggressive type of skin cancer that affects male and female horses of all breeds, according to Tim Scase, BSc, BVM&S, PhD, MRCVS, Dipl. ACVP, director of Bridge Pathology Ltd., a diagnostic immunohistochemistry laboratory in the United Kingdom. Equine genital cancer is thought to be the second most common cancer in
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A newly discovered virus might be a cause of equine genital cancer, an aggressive type of skin cancer that affects male and female horses of all breeds, according to Tim Scase, BSc, BVM&S, PhD, MRCVS, Dipl. ACVP, director of Bridge Pathology Ltd., a diagnostic immunohistochemistry laboratory in the United Kingdom. Equine genital cancer is thought to be the second most common cancer in horses, Scase said.

Scase and his colleagues examined tissue samples from genital tumors in both male and female horses and discovered a new papillomavirus that they called "EcPV-2." They found this virus in most of the cancerous tissue samples that they tested, and it was not present in any of the healthy test tissues.

"These results demonstrate for the first time that a previously undiscovered virus is likely causing one of the most serious cancers that affect horses," Scase said.

Scase, a veterinary pathologist, said that he often sees tissue characteristics that resemble those of warts (Scase defines warts as "a benign tumor growing out from the skin rather than invading the underlying tissues") when he looks at equine genital cancer tissue samples through a microscope. This made him think that a papillomavirus might be behind these particular cancerous growths

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