Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Testing blood for feline immunodeficiency and leukemia virus peptides
By Fontenot, J D et al.·Published in Journal of Clinical Microbiology·1992·Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pennsylvania 15261., United States·View original on Crossref →
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Original publication title: Evaluation of feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukemia virus transmembrane peptides for serological diagnosis
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A study found that cats infected with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) develop specific antibodies that can be detected within two weeks of infection, making it easier for vets to diagnose the disease. In contrast, the antibodies for feline leukemia virus (FeLV) were not as easily detectable. This means that testing for the FIV peptide can help identify infected cats quickly, while the FeLV peptide is not as effective for diagnosis. The findings suggest that using the FIV peptide in tests can improve the accuracy of diagnosing this virus in cats.
People also search for: cat FIV symptoms · how to test for feline leukemia · cat antibody test for FIV
Abstract
The general model for retrovirus transmembrane (TM) proteins proposed by Gallaher et al. (W. R. Gallaher, J. M. Ball, R. F. Garry, M. C. Griffin, and R. C. Montelaro, AIDS Res. Hum. Retroviruses 5:431-440, 1989) suggests that all retrovirus TM proteins may contain an immunodominant domain (Imd-TM peptide) located at the apex of the TM polypeptide. Although this Imd-TM peptide has been shown to be immunodominant in a variety of lentivirus infections, there has not been a detailed serological analysis of an oncovirus Imd-TM peptide as a diagnostic agent. We describe here an analysis of the antigenic properties and diagnostic potentials of the predicted Imd-TM peptides of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and feline leukemia virus (FeLV) in serological assays of sera from infected cats. The results of these studies demonstrate that antibodies specific to the FIV Imd-TM peptide are detected within 2 weeks postinfection, are maintained at high levels for extended periods, and are not detectable in uninfected or FeLV-infected cats. In marked contrast, the FeLV Imd-TM peptide displayed only negligible levels of serological reactivity in FeLV-infected cats. These studies indicate that the peptide is a useful reagent for the detection of antibodies to FIV.
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Search related cases →Original publication on Crossref: https://doi.org/10.1128/jcm.30.7.1885-1890.1992