{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T18:42:42Z","timestamp":1790707362420,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,13]],"date-time":"2021-02-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1613174400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Urogenital carcinoma in California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) is the most common cancer of marine mammals. Primary tumors occur in the cervix, vagina, penis, or prepuce and aggressively metastasize resulting in death. This cancer has been strongly associated with a sexually transmitted herpesvirus, otarine herpesvirus 1 (OtHV1), but the virus has been detected in genital tracts of sea lions without cancer and a causative link has not been established. To determine if OtHV1 has a role in causing urogenital carcinoma we sequenced the viral genome, quantified viral load from cervical tissue from sea lions with (n = 95) and without (n = 163) urogenital carcinoma, and measured viral mRNA expression using in situ mRNA hybridization (Basescope\u00ae) to quantify and identify the location of OtHV1 mRNA expression. Of the 95 sea lions diagnosed with urogenital carcinoma, 100% were qPCR positive for OtHV1, and 36% of the sea lions with a normal cervix were positive for the virus. The non-cancer OtHV1 positive cases had significantly lower viral loads in their cervix compared to the cervices from sea lions with urogenital carcinoma. The OtHV1 genome had several genes similar to the known oncogenes, and RNA in situ hybridization demonstrated high OtHV1 mRNA expression within the carcinoma lesions but not in normal cervical epithelium. The high viral loads, high mRNA expression of OtHV1 in the cervical tumors, and the presence of suspected OtHV1 oncogenes support the hypothesis that OtHV1 plays a significant role in the development of sea lion urogenital carcinoma.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani11020491","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,14]],"date-time":"2021-02-14T02:08:12Z","timestamp":1613268492000},"page":"491","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":21,"title":["Unlocking the Role of a Genital Herpesvirus, Otarine Herpesvirus 1, in California Sea Lion Cervical Cancer"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Alissa C.","family":"Deming","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The Pacific Mammal Center, Laguna Beach, CA 92651, USA"},{"name":"Aquatic Animal Health and Comparative, Diagnostic and Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA"},{"name":"Veterinary Sciences, The Marine Mammal Center, Sausalito, CA 94965, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5692-6134","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"James F. X.","family":"Wellehan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aquatic Animal Health and Comparative, Diagnostic and Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kathleen M.","family":"Colegrove","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zoological Pathology Program, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Brookfield, IL 60513, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7562-1771","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ailsa","family":"Hall","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute, School of Biology, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews KY16 9AJ, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jennifer","family":"Luff","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Population Health and Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27606, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Linda","family":"Lowenstine","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology and Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"P\u00e1draig","family":"Duignan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Veterinary Sciences, The Marine Mammal Center, Sausalito, CA 94965, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6160-9093","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Galaxia","family":"Cort\u00e9s-Hinojosa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aquatic Animal Health and Comparative, Diagnostic and Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA"},{"name":"Current address: School of Veterinary Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica de Chile, Avenida Vicu\u00f1a Mackenna 4860, Santiago 7820436, Chile"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6416-0156","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Frances M. D.","family":"Gulland","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Veterinary Sciences, The Marine Mammal Center, Sausalito, CA 94965, USA"},{"name":"Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology and Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"250","DOI":"10.7589\/0090-3558-32.2.250","article-title":"Metastatic carcinoma of probable transitional cell origin in 66 free-living california sea lions (Zalophus californianus), 1979 TO 1994","volume":"32","author":"Gulland","year":"1996","journal-title":"J. Wildl. 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