Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Detecting feline leukemia virus in cat bone marrow samples
By de Cristo, Thierry G et al.·Published in Journal of comparative pathology·2024·Laborató, Brazil·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Immunocytochemistry of bone marrow aspirates: a tool in the diagnosis of feline leukemia virus infection in cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 188 cats was tested for feline leukemia virus (FeLV) infection, which can cause serious health issues. Researchers compared different testing methods, including a new technique called immunocytochemistry (ICC) that examines bone marrow samples. They found that 28.2% of the cats tested positive for FeLV using at least one method, with ICC showing promising results. This study suggests that testing bone marrow with ICC can be an effective way to diagnose FeLV, even when other tests might not show the virus.
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Abstract
Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) is a highly debilitating cat pathogen due to its ability to cause many pathological changes. Therefore, identifying the virus directly in bone marrow can be a highly relevant diagnostic tool even in the absence of viraemia. The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic efficiency of immunocytochemistry (ICC) of bone marrow aspirates with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Blood samples were collected from 188 cats and separated into aliquots of whole blood for nested PCR using the U3 LTR region and the gag gene of FeLV-A as reference and serum for detection of the p27 antigen by ELISA. Bone marrow samples from these cats were placed on silanized slides for anti-FeLV ICC using gp70 as primary antibody. A total of 28.2% of the cats tested for FeLV were positive in at least one of the tests, with 26.6% positive by PCR, 18.1% by ICC and 11.2% by ELISA. Cohen's kappa agreement test revealed moderate agreement between ELISA and PCR results and substantial agreement between ICC and ELISA and between ICC and PCR. The results indicated that ICC of bone marrow is an efficient novel diagnostic test for FeLV infection.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39191090/