title: Maintenance of high virus load even after seroconversion in newborn cats acutely infected with feline immunodeficiency virus.
abstract: The viral loads in adult and newborn cats have been compared following injection with feline CD4+ FeL-039 line cells acutely infected with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). The level of virus genome in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) increased progressively despite seroconversion in the newborn cats, whereas the virus genome was apparently cleared after seroconversion in the adult cats. Immunohistochemical staining of thymus of the FIV-infected newborn cats showed clusters of viral antigen-positive cells. These results indicate that FIV infection of the newborn cat results in higher virus loads than infection of the adult cat. We discuss these findings in relation to FIV as a model system for studies of the infection of neonates with an immunosuppressive retrovirus.
authors.affiliation: Section of Serology, Institute of Immunological Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tokunaga
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shoda
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nishino
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Y H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kishi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ishihara
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kanda
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikuta
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000254:growth & development / Q000821:virology*; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000097:blood*; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000097:blood; D001483:Base Sequence; D002415:Cats; D016181:Feline Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000209:etiology / Q000821:virology*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D016089:Immunodeficiency Virus, Feline / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000821:virology; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral