title: Myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia in cats infected with feline leukemia virus clone33 containing a unique long terminal repeat.
abstract: Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) clone33 was obtained from a domestic cat with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The long terminal repeat (LTR) of this virus, like the LTRs present in FeLV from other cats with AML, differs from the LTRs of other known FeLV in that it has 3 tandem direct 47-bp repeats in the upstream region of the enhancer (URE). Here, we injected cats with FeLV clone33 and found 41% developed myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) characterized by peripheral blood cytopenias and dysplastic changes in the bone marrow. Some of the cats with MDS eventually developed AML. The bone marrow of the majority of cats with FeLV clone33 induced MDS produced fewer erythroid and myeloid colonies upon being cultured with erythropoietin or granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-SCF) than bone marrow from normal control cats. Furthermore, the bone marrow of some of the cats expressed high-levels of the apoptosis-related genes TNF-alpha and survivin. Analysis of the proviral sequences obtained from 13 cats with naturally occurring MDS reveal they also bear the characteristic URE repeats seen in the LTR of FeLV clone33 and other proviruses from cats with AML. Deletions and mutations within the enhancer elements are frequently observed in naturally occurring MDS as well as AML. These results suggest that FeLV variants that bear URE repeats in their LTR strongly associate with the induction of both MDS and AML in cats.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Veterinary Internal Medicine II, School of Veterinary Medicine, Azabu University, Sagamihara City, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hisasue
authors.forename: Naho
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nagashima
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nishigaki
authors.forename: Isao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fukuzawa
authors.forename: Shigeyoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ura
authors.forename: Hiromi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Katae
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tsuchiya
authors.forename: Takatsugu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Atsuhiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsujimoto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002415:Cats; D005256:Leukemia Virus, Feline / Q000235:genetics*; D016582:Leukemia, Feline / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences