Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cat immune response and outcomes after FIP virus vaccination
By Kiss, I et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2004·Veterinary Institute of Debrecen·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Disease outcome and cytokine responses in cats immunized with an avirulent feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV)-UCD1 and challenge-exposed with virulent FIPV-UCD8.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
Eight cats were given a vaccine made from a weakened version of the feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV) to see if it would protect them from a stronger, harmful strain. After vaccination, the cats showed no signs of illness. However, when they were later exposed to the virulent strain, their outcomes varied: some developed different forms of FIP, while others showed resistance. The study found that certain immune responses, particularly levels of specific proteins in the blood, could indicate whether a cat would be more likely to get sick or remain healthy after exposure.
Abstract
Eight cats were immunized with an avirulent strain of feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV)-UCD1, then challenge-exposed to a highly virulent cat passaged strain (FIPV-UCD8). Th1 and Th2 cytokine profiles in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were measured throughout in the experiment. No clinical signs of FIP were evident in the experimental cats after immunization. After challenge, the immunized cats demonstrated one of four clinical outcomes: (1) classical effusive FIP; (2) accelerated FIP; (3) non-effusive FIP, or (4) resistance to challenge. Only minor cytokine changes were observed following immunization, however, several cytokine changes occurred following challenge-exposure. The most noteworthy changes were in tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) levels. Our preliminary findings suggest that immunity against FIP is associated with TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma response imbalance, with high TNF-alpha/low IFN-gamma mRNA responses favouring disease and low TNF-alpha/high IFN-gamma mRNA responses being indicative of immunity.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15123153/