Ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA), also known as ovine pulmonary adenomatosis, or jaagsiekte, is a chronic and contagious disease of the lungs of sheep and goats. OPA is caused by a

retrovirus A retrovirus is a type of virus that inserts a DNA copy of its RNA genome into the DNA of a host cell that it invades, thus changing the genome of that cell. After invading a host cell's cytoplasm, the virus uses its own reverse transcriptase e ...

called

jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV) is a betaretrovirus which is the causative agent of a contagious lung cancer in sheep, called ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma. Natural history JSRV is the virus that is the cause of the contagious lung tumors i ...

(JSRV).

Signs and symptoms

The disease has a long incubation period, and therefore signs usually occur in adult animals (over 2 years of age). Clinical signs resemble a non-specific progressive pneumonia, including poor body condition and, particularly after exercise, respiratory difficulty. Unless a concurrent lung infection is present, affected sheep continue to eat. The only sign specific to OPA is a watery nasal discharge, consisting of lung fluid produced by the affected lung tissue; lifting the hind legs of the animal above the level of its head will cause large volumes of this fluid to flow from the nostrils. There are no reliable tests for the diagnosis of OPA in live animals which are suitable for use on farms, so diagnosis can only be confirmed at

necropsy An autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death ...

(post-mortem examination). On necropsy, lungs are interspersed with multifocal

tumors A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

. Some of these are small discrete

nodules Nodule may refer to: *Nodule (geology), a small rock or mineral cluster *Manganese nodule, a metallic concretion found on the seafloor *Nodule (medicine), a small aggregation of cells *Root nodule Root nodules are found on the roots of plants, p ...

and others will involve the entire half of a lung lobule. JSRV acutely transforms the lung

epithelia Epithelium or epithelial tissue is a thin, continuous, protective layer of cells with little extracellular matrix. An example is the epidermis, the outermost layer of the skin. Epithelial ( mesothelial) tissues line the outer surfaces of many ...

into cancerous cells, with type-2

pneumocytes A pulmonary alveolus (; ), also called an air sac or air space, is one of millions of hollow, distensible cup-shaped cavities in the lungs where pulmonary gas exchange takes place. Oxygen is exchanged for carbon dioxide at the blood–air bar ...

and

club cell Club cells, also known as bronchiolar exocrine cells, are low columnar/cuboidal cells with short microvilli, found in the small airways (bronchioles) of the lungs. They were formerly known as ''Clara cells''. Club cells are found in the ciliated ...

s being the likely target for JSRV transformation. The tumors have overactive secretory functions, which are a hallmark of OPA. The retroviral

antigen In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule, moiety, foreign particulate matter, or an allergen, such as pollen, that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune response. ...

levels of JSRV are very high in OPA tumors and can be detected in the lung secretions of infected sheep. It is thought that infected animals secrete the virus before showing signs, so the virus is easily spread within flocks.

Epidemiology

OPA has been found in most countries where sheep are farmed, with the exception of Australia and New Zealand. OPA has been eradicated in Iceland. No breed or sex of sheep appears to be predisposed to OPA. Most affected sheep show signs at 2 to 4 years of age. OPA is not a

notifiable disease A notifiable disease is any disease that is required by law to be reported to government authorities. The collation of information allows the authorities to monitor the disease, and provides early warning of possible outbreaks. In the case of lives ...

, and therefore it is difficult to assess its

prevalence In epidemiology, prevalence is the proportion of a particular population found to be affected by a medical condition (typically a disease or a risk factor such as smoking or seatbelt use) at a specific time. It is derived by comparing the number o ...

History

OPA was first described in the UK in 1888, and described in detail in South Africa in 1891. The disease was initially known as ''jaagsiekte'' , a word derived from

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

, meaning "chasing sickness", so called because animals are in respiratory distress as if they are out of breath from being chased. It has also been known as sheep pulmonary adenomatosis and ovine pulmonary carcinoma.

Research

OPA has been used as an animal model for human lung cancer, because OPA is

histologically Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology that studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissue (biology), tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at large ...

similar to human

adenocarcinoma in situ of the lung Adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) of the lung —previously included in the category of "bronchioloalveolar carcinoma" (BAC)—is a subtype of lung adenocarcinoma. It tends to arise in the distal bronchioles or alveoli and is defined by a non-invasive ...

Society and culture

Dolly the sheep Dolly (5 July 1996 – 14 February 2003) was a female Finn-Dorset sheep and the first mammal that was cloned from an adult somatic cell. She was cloned by associates of the Roslin Institute in Scotland, using the process of nuclear trans ...

, the first mammal successfully cloned from an adult somatic cell, was euthanized after it was confirmed that she had OPA.

References