Molecular investigation and genetic characterization of feline leukemia virus (FeLV) in cats referred to a veterinary teaching hospital in Northern Italy

• Published in: Veterinary research communications Vol. 48; no. 4; pp. 2683 - 2689
• Main Authors: Gallina, Laura, Facile, Veronica, Roda, Nicola, Sabetti, Maria Chiara, Terrusi, Alessia, Urbani, Lorenza, Magliocca, Martina, Vasylyeva, Kateryna, Dondi, Francesco, Balboni, Andrea, Battilani, Mara
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.08.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Antigens; Biomedical and Life Sciences; blood; Brief Report; Cat Diseases - virology; Cats; disease control; DNA; DNA viruses; Domestic animals; Env gene; Feline leukemia; Feline leukemia virus; Female; genes; hospitals; Hospitals, Animal; Hospitals, Teaching; Italy; Italy - epidemiology; Leukemia; Leukemia Virus, Feline - genetics; Leukemia Virus, Feline - isolation & purification; Leukemia, Feline - virology; Life Sciences; Male; mixed infection; Nucleotide sequence; quantitative polymerase chain reaction; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction - veterinary; Retroviridae Infections - veterinary; Retroviridae Infections - virology; Teaching hospitals; Tumor Virus Infections - veterinary; Tumor Virus Infections - virology; Vaccination; Veterinary Medicine/Veterinary Science; Zoology; Italy; Retrovirus; Real-time PCR; Cat; FeLV; Subtypes; Point-of-care test; Provirus
• ISSN: 0165-7380; 1573-7446; 1573-7446
• DOI: 10.1007/s11259-024-10380-6

Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) is responsible for feline leukemia syndrome in domestic cats. The prevention and control of disease caused by FeLV are primarily based on vaccination and identification and isolation of infected subjects. Antigen diagnostic methods, which are the most widely used in clinical practices, can be associated to molecular tests to characterize the FeLV detected. In this study, a quantitative SYBR Green Real-Time PCR (qPCR) assay was used to detect FeLV proviral DNA in blood samples from antigen positive cats referred to a veterinary teaching hospital in Northern Italy in 2018–2021. To genetically characterize the identified viruses, a portion of the viral envelope ( env ) gene was amplified using six different end-point PCRs and sequenced. Twenty-two of 26 (84.6%) cats included in the study tested positive by qPCR assay. This suggests a high performance of the qPCR adopted but further studies are required to investigate the cause of discordant results between the antigen test and qPCR in four cats. From env gene analysis, 15/22 qPCR-positive cats were infected by FeLV subtype A and 5/15 shown coinfection with subtype B.