Effect of feline panleukopenia virus infection on development of humoral and cellular immunity.
Cats were infected with feline panleukopenia virus (FPLV) at various ages pre- and post-parturition. All fetuses infected at 35 days of gestation from one queen and a single fetus infected at 45 days of gestation from a second queen had a significant delay in time of skin allograft rejection. Older fetuses and newborn kittens infected with FPLV did not show this delay in rejection time. Adult cats infected with FPLV demonstrated a significant decrease in lymphocyte responsiveness to two T cell mitogens, phytohemagglutinin and Concanavalin A, however there was no significant decrease in lymphocyte response to pokeweed mitogen, a T cell and B cell mitogen. Primary and secondary antibody responses to rabbit red blood cells (RRBC) were not affected by FPLV infection. The results suggest that FPLV has its primary immunosuppressive effect on T cell activity. This effect does not appear to be as severe as that observed for feline leukemia virus of kittens nor as for canine distemper virus in dogs.
D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D002415:Cats; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000276:immunology; D005254:Feline Panleukopenia / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000276:immunology; D006084:Graft Rejection; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D016038:Skin Transplantation; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous