Hofmann-Lehmann
Fakultäten » Vetsuisse-Fakultät » Nutztiere, Departement für » Veterinärmedizinisches Labor » Prof. Dr. Regina Hofmann-Lehmann » Hofmann-Lehmann
Completed research project
| Title / Titel | Feline leukemia virus cell-type and tissue distribution and association with the clinical outcome of the infection | ||||||||
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| Abstract (PDF, 14 KB) | |||||||||
| Summary / Zusammenfassung | Feline leukemia virus is a retrovirus of great veterinary importance. The susceptibility of cats to FeLV infection varies remarkably and different infection outcomes are known. Some cats develop progressive infection with persistent viremia; they ultimately develop fatal FeLV-associated diseases. Others develop contained infection characterized by transient or undetectable viremia and an effective immune response. Recently, we demonstrated that not only cats with progressive infection but all experimentally FeLV challenged cats turn provirus and plasma viral RNA positive, although the latter have lower loads than cats with persistent viremia. So far, it is incompletely understood which factors determine the infection outcome. We hypothesize that the infected tissues, cell subsets or the FeLV burdens in the respective tissues/cell subsets might be important for the infection outcome. We hypothesized that viral loads in specific leukocyte subsets influence the infection outcome. Using a method established to determine the proviral and cell-associated viral RNA loads in specific leukocyte subsets, we evaluated viral loads in eleven FeLVexposed specific pathogen-free (SPF) cats 2.5 years post-infection. Six cats had undergone regressive infection whereas five were persistently viremic. Aviremic cats had lower total proviral blood loads than the persistently infected cats and FeLV proviral DNA was shown to be integrated into genomic DNA in four out of four animals. Lymphocytes were predominantly infected vs. moncytes and granulocytes in aviremic cats. In contrast, persistently viremic cats were provirus-positive in all leukocyte subsets. The acute phase kinetics of FeLV infection were analyzed in two additional cats; an early lymphoreticular phase with productive infection in lymphocytes in both cats and in monocytes in one cat was followed by infection of the granulocytes; both cats became persistently infected. These results indicate that FeLV persistent viremia is associated with secondary viremia of bone marrow origin, whereas regressive cats only sustain a non-productive infection in low numbers of lymphocytes. This project is the basis of the veterinary dissertation of A. Pepin. |
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| Publications / Publikationen | Cattori, V., A. C. Pepin, R. Tandon, B. Riond, M. L. Meli, B. Willi, H. Lutz, and R. Hofmann-Lehmann. 2008. Real-time PCR investigation of feline leukemia virus proviral and viral RNA loads in leukocyte subsets. Vet Immunol Immunopathol 123:124-8.Pepin, A. C., R. Tandon, V. Cattori, E. Niederer, B. Riond, B. Willi, H. Lutz, and R. Hofmann-Lehmann. 2007. Cellular segregation of feline leukemia provirus and viral RNA in leukocyte subsets of long-term experimentally infected cats Virus Research 127:9-16.Cattori, V., R. Tandon, A. Pepin, H. Lutz, and R. Hofmann-Lehmann. 2006. Rapid detection of feline leukemia virus provirus integration into feline genomic DNA. Mol Cell Probes 20:172-178.Tandon R, Cattori V, Gomes-Keller MA, Meli ML, Golder MC, Lutz H, Hofmann-Lehmann R. Quantitation of feline leukaemia virus viral and proviral loads by TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction. J Virol Methods. 2005 Dec;130(1-2):124-32.Hofmann-Lehmann, R., J. B. Huder, S. Gruber, F. Boretti, B. Sigrist, and H. Lutz. 2001. Feline leukaemia provirus load during the course of experimental infection and in naturally infected cats. J Gen Virol 82:1589-96.Hofmann-Lehmann, R., E. Holznagel, P. Ossent, and H. Lutz. 1997. Parameters of disease progression in long-term experimental feline retrovirus (feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukemia virus) infections: hematology, clinical chemistry, and lymphocyte subsets. Clin Diagn Lab Immunol 4:33-42. | ||||||||
| Keywords / Suchbegriffe | Feline leukemia virus, susceptibility, cats, flow cytometry, cell sorting, quantitative real-time TaqMan PCR | ||||||||
| Project leadership and contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte |
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| Funding source(s) / Unterstützt durch |
Forschungskredit der Universität Zürich, SNF (Personen- und Projektförderung), Others SNF Professorship |
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| In collaboration with / In Zusammenarbeit mit |
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| Duration of Project / Projektdauer | Nov 2004 to Dec 2007 |