Rodent Papillomaviruses

Abstract

Preclinical infection model systems are extremely valuable tools to aid in our understanding of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) biology, disease progression, prevention, and treatments. In this context, rodent papillomaviruses and their respective infection models are useful tools but remain underutilized resources in the field of papillomavirus biology. Two rodent papillomaviruses, MnPV1, which infects the Mastomys species of multimammate rats, and MmuPV1, which infects laboratory mice, are currently the most studied rodent PVs. Both of these viruses cause malignancy in the skin and can provide attractive infection models to study the lesser understood cutaneous papillomaviruses that have been frequently associated with HPV-related skin cancers. Of these, MmuPV1 is the first reported rodent papillomavirus that can naturally infect the laboratory strain of mice. MmuPV1 is an attractive model virus to study papillomavirus pathogenesis because of the ubiquitous availability of lab mice and the fact that this mouse species is genetically modifiable. In this review, we have summarized the knowledge we have gained about PV biology from the study of rodent papillomaviruses and point out the remaining gaps that can provide new research opportunities.

Papillomavirus can be transmitted through the blood and produce infections in blood recipients: Evidence from two animal models

“…Thus, it is not possible to 90 study HPV infections directly in any animals. However, our laboratory is fortunate to have two 91 preclinical animal models with their own naturally occurring papillomaviruses (Christensen et 92 al., 2017;Doorbar, 2016;Hu et al, 2017;Uberoi and Lambert, 2017). We have developed 93 methods that allow us to use these models to test the possibility of papillomavirus transmission 94 by blood.…”

“…Next, we extended these studies to the mouse papillomavirus (MmuPV1) model, which 108 has been under development over the past seven years in our and other laboratories (Hu et al,109 2017; Uberoi and Lambert, 2017). MmuPV1 is the first mouse papillomavirus suitable for large-110 scale laboratory studies and has been proven to be highly malleable in our hands.…”

A Novel In Vivo Infection Model To Study Papillomavirus-Mediated Disease of the Female Reproductive Tract

“…Papillomaviruses exhibit strict species- and tissue-specific tropism, characteristics that have long hindered the ability to study aspects of papillomavirus infection and disease in an efficient laboratory model. While several models have been developed in rodents and primates (12–15), these models are often costly and onerous due to the scarcity of available genetically modified hosts and reagents (15, 16). Recently, a murine papillomavirus (MmuPV1 or MusPV1) was isolated from skin papillomas arising in T-cell-deficient, hairless FoxN1 nu/nu (nude) mice (17).…”

Cutaneous Papillomaviruses and Non-melanoma Skin Cancer: Causal Agents or Innocent Bystanders?

“…Animal experiments for infectious agents like papillomaviruses are also indispensable ( Doorbar, 2016 ; Christensen et al, 2017 ) and should reflect as much as possible the molecular and histological key features of a disease as found in patients (reviewed in Greek and Menache, 2013 ). Nevertheless, besides pragmatic reasons in working with easily managing laboratory animals (e.g., rodents) (reviewed in Hu et al, 2017 ; Uberoi and Lambert, 2017 ), there are several other important criteria for validation and predictability to guarantee a successful clinical translation. They can be summarized as follows ( Kern, 1982 ; Greek and Menache, 2013 ; Denayer et al, 2014 ):…”