Projeto Portugal 2020

Código de operação Código que identifica cada projeto efetuado com recurso a fundos europeus.

Data de conclusão

Sumário

Research Line 1 – Animal and human cancer: filling the gap Domestic animals, especially companion animals, have long been used as surrogates and models for Humans in exposure assessments of biological agents, food and environmental contaminants. As inhabitants of the same indoor or outdoor environment and due to their relatively short lives, the animals can develop diseases more quickly than Humans and can yield information for Human hazard identification and risk assessment. The epidemiological and clinic-pathological similarities between several spontaneous diseases, including cancer of companion animals, that in many aspects’ parallel Human morbidities make them suitable natural models for Human diseases and cancer research. Moreover, the faster progression of cancer in dogs and cats in comparison with Humans, associated with the shorter lifespan of companion animals, enables faster data retrieval than in Human malignancies. Based on this knowledge, this line integrates a multidisciplinary group of researchers with extensive experience in the diagnosis, study and treatment of spontaneous cancer in animals, namely in the investigation of epidemiological and pathophysiological mechanisms of oncological animal diseases, in a One Health perspective. This line will have 3 tasks, working in a network for the study of animal cancer and its relationship with human neoplasia, in the North of Portugal. The tasks are: 1) Cross-sectional study on the occurrence of neoplasia in animals. It is the aim of this task to carry out an epidemiological review based on the 30-year record of the Histology and Anatomical Pathology Laboratory and the Veterinary Hospital of teaching at UTAD. These data will be used to compare with the occurrence of tumours in Humans, through the oncological registry of the regional hospital (Centro Hospitalar de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro - CHTMAD). 2) Survey on the knowledge, practices and attitudes about animal and human cancer. Based on questionnaires developed by the members of CECAV and CIDESD, this task aims to investigate the relationship between lifestyle and the development of spontaneous cancer in humans and animals. The questionnaires will be constructed with a view of two different targets: a) Humans with cancer and b) Owners of animals with cancer. 3) Biomarkers evaluation in animal lymphoma. Is Leishmania involved? In this task the studies will be based on lymphoma, a cancer that constitutes one of the most common tumor types in dogs and cats. We aim to investigate a possible association between the Leishmania sp. infection and the development of lymphoma. Research Line 2 – Livestock cancer: a one health approach Cancers are complex and multifactorial diseases and constitute a major threat to humans. Environmental factors, as well as genetic events, have been associated with tumour induction (Monot et al., 2015). DNA damage and repair is one of the important determinants of susceptibility to cancer. It is therefore useful to be able to measure DNA repair capacity in samples from population studies. While DNA damage is clearly implicated as the initiating event in most cancers, the link is not a simple one. Most damage is removed by repair enzymes before it can interfere with the process of DNA replication and introduce mutations. Given a particular carcinogenic exposure, individual variation in capacity for DNA repair is therefore likely to be an important factor in determining cancer risk (Gaivão et al., 2009; Slyskova et al., 2014). Moreover, worldwide, up to 20% of human cancers might be attributed to infectious agents (Gatza et al., 2005; Monot et al., 2015). Food producing animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep, goats can also be infected with virus that cause cancer. These include bovine papilloma viruses; bovine leukemia virus; Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus and enzootic nasal tumour viruses. In this way, the human exposure to these oncogenic agents through contact with live animals and ingestion of raw or inadequately cooked meat and other products must be considered in epidemiologic studies about cancer (Johnson et al., 2015). According to Johnson et al. (2011) it is clear that workers in the meat industry have risk of developing cancer trough known carcinogenic exposures in the workplace that include oncogenic viruses and other microbial agents, and chemical carcinogens. Tumours are not diagnosed frequently in cattle; however, the diagnosis is important for clinicians and meat inspectors. The available information on the incidence of tumours in cattle in the slaughterhouse is scarce and, to our knowledge, there are no data available from Portugal. Few authors referred to their occurrence in livestock. Most of the tumour lesions are observed at slaughterhouse after meat inspection (Moura et al., 2018). It is of great interest the evaluation of the frequency and type of tumours that occur in livestock species, in order to better understand the oncogenic process and the possible implications in human health. Furthermore, this knowledge can be useful to support the sanitary decision at the slaughterhouse. Research line 3 – Reducing carcinogenic factors in meat and meat products – comprises: (i) a survey of consumption patterns of red meats and processed meats and associated risk factors – consumer consumption patterns and motivations, and an analysis of the market offer of processed meats with reduction of risk factors; (ii) a reduction of risk factors associated with meat products – evaluation of the possibility of reducing / eliminating nitrite from dry sausages, and evaluation of the possibility of reducing / eliminating smoking dry sausages; (iii) culinary processing – evaluation of the level of PAHs in meats prepared by different methods, and evaluation of the level of acrylamide in pre-prepared meals with meat; and (iv) information to the consumer on the effective risks associated with the consumption of red meat and meat products. The results will be communicated in technical and scientific journals. The organization of a conference at the end of the project is to be pondered, depending on the situation on public health –covid-19 at that moment. When possible, we will try to get that information in formal media, namely newspapers and information programs on TV.