title: Low-dose interferon-alpha treatment for feline immunodeficiency virus infection.
abstract: Feline immunodeficiency virus sustains an AIDS-like syndrome in cats, which is considered a relevant model for human AIDS. Under precise enrolment requirements, 30 naturally infected cats showing overt disease were included in a trial of low-dose, oral human interferon-alpha treatment. Twenty-four of them received 10 IU/Kg of human interferon-alpha and 6 placebo only on a daily basis under veterinary supervision. The low-dose human interferon-alpha treatment significantly prolonged the survival of virus-infected cats (p<0.01) and brought to a rapid improvement of disease conditions in the infected hosts. Amelioration of clinical conditions was neither correlated with plasma viremia, nor with proviral load in leukocytes. A good survival of CD4+ T cells and a slow increase of CD8+ T cells were also observed in human interferon-alpha-treated cats. Interestingly, the improvement of the total leukocyte counts showed a much stronger correlation with the recovery from serious opportunistic infections. As shown in other models of low-dose interferon-alpha treatment, there was a rapid regression of overt immunopathological conditions in virus-infected cats. This hints at a major role of interferon-alpha in the control circuits of inflammatory cytokines, which was probably the very foundation of the improved clinical score and survival despite the unabated persistence of virus and virus-infected cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Welfare and Immunoprophylaxis, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale, via A. Bianchi 9, 25124 Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pedretti
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Passeri
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amadori
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Isola
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Di Pede
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Telera
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vescovini
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Quintavalla
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pistello
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D016516:CD4-CD8 Ratio; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes; D002415:Cats; D016181:Feline Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000662:veterinary; D016089:Immunodeficiency Virus, Feline / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000276:immunology; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014766:Viremia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary*
chemical_list: D016898:Interferon-alpha; D012367:RNA, Viral