Development of clinical disease in cats experimentally infected with feline immunodeficiency virus.
Cats naturally infected with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) develop an AIDS-like syndrome whereas experimentally infected cats do not. To investigate the role of cofactors in the development of this disease in cats, 7 specific pathogen-free (SPF) and 12 random-source (RS) cats were infected with FIV. Over 4 years, infected cats developed similar phenotypic and functional immune abnormalities characterized by early and chronic inversion of CD4+:CD8+ cell ratios and significantly decreased mitogen responses compared with controls. Beginning 18-24 months after infection, 10 RS cats developed chronic clinical disease typical of feline AIDS, including stomatitis and recurrent upper respiratory disease; 4 SPF cats also developed chronic clinical disease, 2 with neurologic disease and 2 with B cell lymphomas. Thus, immunologic background is important in the type of disease that develops in cats infected with FIV, and FIV represents a promising animal model for studying the immunopathogenesis of AIDS in humans.
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Department of Microbiology, Pathology, and Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27606.
Nelson
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Johnson
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Nasisse
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Tompkins
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Tompkins
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D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D016516:CD4-CD8 Ratio; D002415:Cats; D016181:Feline Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D016089:Immunodeficiency Virus, Feline / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013997:Time Factors