Measuring the Humoral Immune Response in Cats Exposed to Feline Leukaemia Virus

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Abstract

Retroviruses belong to an important and diverse family of RNA viruses capable of causing neoplastic disease in their hosts. Feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) is a gammaretrovirus that infects domestic and wild cats, causing immunodeficiency, cytopenia and neoplasia in progressively infected cats. The outcome of FeLV infection is influenced by the host immune response; progressively infected cats demonstrate weaker immune responses compared to regressively infected cats. In this study, humoral immune responses were examined in 180 samples collected from 123 domestic cats that had been naturally exposed to FeLV, using a novel ELISA to measure antibodies recognizing the FeLV surface unit (SU) glycoprotein in plasma samples. A correlation was demonstrated between the strength of the humoral immune response to the SU protein and the outcome of exposure. Cats with regressive infection demonstrated higher antibody responses to the SU protein compared to cats belonging to other outcome groups, and samples from cats with regressive infection contained virus neutralising antibodies. These results demonstrate that an ELISA that assesses the humoral response to FeLV SU complements the use of viral diagnostic tests to define the outcome of exposure to FeLV. Together these tests could allow the rapid identification of regressively infected cats that are unlikely to develop FeLV-related disease.

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A rapid and sensitive method for the quantitation of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of protein-dye binding

Marion Bradford (1976)

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Clinical Aspects of Feline Retroviruses: A Review

Katrin Hartmann (2012)

Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) are retroviruses with global impact on the health of domestic cats. The two viruses differ in their potential to cause disease. FeLV is more pathogenic, and was long considered to be responsible for more clinical syndromes than any other agent in cats. FeLV can cause tumors (mainly lymphoma), bone marrow suppression syndromes (mainly anemia), and lead to secondary infectious diseases caused by suppressive effects of the virus on bone marrow and the immune system. Today, FeLV is less commonly diagnosed than in the previous 20 years; prevalence has been decreasing in most countries. However, FeLV importance may be underestimated as it has been shown that regressively infected cats (that are negative in routinely used FeLV tests) also can develop clinical signs. FIV can cause an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome that increases the risk of opportunistic infections, neurological diseases, and tumors. In most naturally infected cats, however, FIV itself does not cause severe clinical signs, and FIV-infected cats may live many years without any health problems. This article provides a review of clinical syndromes in progressively and regressively FeLV-infected cats as well as in FIV-infected cats.

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Feline leukaemia. ABCD guidelines on prevention and management

Hans O. Lutz, Diane D. Addie, Sándor Belák … (2009)

Overview Feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) is a retrovirus that may induce depression of the immune system, anaemia and/or lymphoma. Over the past 25 years, the prevalence of FeLV infection has decreased considerably, thanks both to reliable tests for the identification of viraemic carriers and to effective vaccines. Infection Transmission between cats occurs mainly through friendly contacts, but also through biting. In large groups of non-vaccinated cats, around 30–40% will develop persistent viraemia, 30–40% show transient viraemia and 20–30% seroconvert. Young kittens are especially susceptible to FeLV infection. Disease signs The most common signs of persistent FeLV viraemia are immune suppression, anaemia and lymphoma. Less common signs are immune-mediated disease, chronic enteritis, reproductive disorders and peripheral neuropathies. Most persistently viraemic cats die within 2–3 years. Diagnosis In low-prevalence areas there may be a risk of false-positive results; a doubtful positive test result in a healthy cat should therefore be confirmed, preferably by PCR for provirus. Asymptomatic FeLV-positive cats should be retested. Disease management Supportive therapy and good nursing care are required. Secondary infections should be treated promptly. Cats infected with FeLV should remain indoors. Vaccination against common pathogens should be maintained. Inactivated vaccines are recommended. The virus does not survive for long outside the host. Vaccination recommendations All cats with an uncertain FeLV status should be tested prior to vaccination. All healthy cats at potential risk of exposure should be vaccinated against FeLV. Kittens should be vaccinated at 8–9 weeks of age, with a second vaccination at 12 weeks, followed by a booster 1 year later. The ABCD suggests that, in cats older than 3–4 years of age, a booster every 2–3 years suffices, in view of the significantly lower susceptibility of older cats.

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Contributors

Julia A. Beatty: Role: Academic Editor

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Viruses

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Viruses

Journal ID (publisher-id): viruses

Title: Viruses

Publisher: MDPI

ISSN (Electronic): 1999-4915

Publication date (Electronic): 07 March 2021

Publication date Collection: March 2021

Volume: 13

Issue: 3

Electronic Location Identifier: 428

Affiliations

[1 ]MRC—University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Glasgow, Scotland G61 1QH, UK; Brian.Willett@ 123456glasgow.ac.uk (B.J.W.); Margaret.Hosie@ 123456glasgow.ac.uk (M.J.H.)

[2 ]IDEXX Laboratories, Inc.—Westbrook, ME 04092, USA; Melissa-Beall@ 123456IDEXX.com

[3 ]Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA; levyjk@ 123456ufl.edu

[4 ]Veterinary Diagnostic Services, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland G61 1QH, UK; Mike.McDonald@ 123456glasgow.ac.uk

[5 ]Austin Pets Alive!, Austin, TX 78703, USA; nth4@ 123456utexas.edu

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[* ]Correspondence: Yasmin.Parr@ 123456glasgow.ac.uk ; Tel.: +44-0-141-330-3444

Author information

Yasmin A. Parr https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4658-6698

Julie K. Levy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4849-288X

Brian J. Willett https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8912-3266

Margaret J. Hosie https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4313-5023

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Publisher ID: viruses-13-00428

DOI: 10.3390/v13030428

PMC ID: 7998633

SO-VID: 21ab8dce-7cd3-4846-86f1-af9203e8f60b

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Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Measuring the Humoral Immune Response in Cats Exposed to Feline Leukaemia Virus

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Most cited references 38

A rapid and sensitive method for the quantitation of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of protein-dye binding

Clinical Aspects of Feline Retroviruses: A Review

Feline leukaemia. ABCD guidelines on prevention and management

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