Quantification of domestic cat hepadnavirus DNA in various body fluid specimens of cats: the potential viral shedding routes

Sabrina Wahyu Wardhani; Padet Tummaruk; Chutchai Piewbang; Somporn Techangamsuwan

doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1248445

Quantification of domestic cat hepadnavirus DNA in various body fluid specimens of cats: the potential viral shedding routes

Front Vet Sci. 2023 Sep 4:10:1248445. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1248445. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Sabrina Wahyu Wardhani^{1

2}, Padet Tummaruk³, Chutchai Piewbang^#^{2

4}, Somporn Techangamsuwan^#^{2

4}

Affiliations

¹ The International Graduate Program of Veterinary Science and Technology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
² Animal Virome and Diagnostic Development Research Unit, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
³ Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology, and Reproduction, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
⁴ Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Domestic cat hepadnavirus (DCH) belongs to the Hepadnaviridae family together with human hepatitis B virus (HBV) that remains to be a major health problem worldwide. The transmission of HBV infectious virion has been one of the essential factors that contribute to high number of HBV infection in humans. It has been long known that various body fluid specimens of human with chronic HBV infection contain HBV DNA and demonstrated to be infectious. In contrast to this knowledge, the detection of DCH in various body fluid specimens of cats, has not been reported. This study explored the detection of DCH DNA in various body fluid specimens of cats by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and investigated whether the detection of DCH DNA from broader routes was correlated with any genomic diversity by phylogenetic analysis. A total of 1,209 body fluid specimens were included, and DCH DNA was detected not only in 4.70% (25/532) of blood samples; but also in 12.5% (1/8), 1.14% (1/88), 2.54% (10/394), and 1.65% (3/182) of auricular swab (AS), nasal swab (NS), oral swab (OS), and rectal swab (RS) specimens, respectively. Furthermore, the level of DCH DNA detected in the blood was significantly correlated with DCH DNA detection in OS (P = 0.02) and RS (P = 0.04) specimens. Genomic analysis revealed that there was no notable genomic diversity within the complete genome sequences obtained in this study. In conclusion, this study highlighted the presence of DCH DNA in various body fluid specimens of cats, and the potential role of these specimens in DCH horizontal transmission within the cat population warrants further studies.

Keywords: DCH; body fluid specimens; detection; horizontal transmission; shedding routes.

Grants and funding

SWW was supported by the Second Century Fund (C2F), Chulalongkorn University. CP was supported by the Ratchadapisek Somphot Fund for Postdoctoral Fellowship, Chulalongkorn University. ST was partly supported by National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT): R. Thanawongnuwech NRCT Senior scholar 2022 #N42A650553. This research was funded by National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) (N41A640175) (to CP) and Grant for Joint Funding of External Research Project and Veterinary Science Research Fund (RES_65_005_31_005), Chulalongkorn University (to CP), and the 90th Anniversary of Chulalongkorn University Fund (Ratchadaphiseksomphot Endowment Fund) (to SWW).