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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Infectious Diseases
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1516850

Cellular and humoral immune responses in cats vaccinated with feline herpesvirus 1 modified live virus vaccine

Provisionally accepted
Hongchao Wu Hongchao Wu 1,2Peipei Qiao Peipei Qiao 1Yunyu Chen Yunyu Chen 1Caihong Liu Caihong Liu 1Ningning Huo Ningning Huo 1Hangtian Ding Hangtian Ding 1Xiaojuan Wang Xiaojuan Wang 1Lulu Wang Lulu Wang 1Xiangfeng Xi Xiangfeng Xi 1Yuxiu Liu Yuxiu Liu 1*Kegong Tian Kegong Tian 1,2*
  • 1 National Research Center for Veterinary Medicine, Henan, China
  • 2 Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Feline herpesvirus 1 (FHV-1) is an important pathogen causing infectious rhinotracheitis in felids, mainly infecting the upper respiratory tract and conjunctiva.Multiple vaccines are available to prevent FHV-1 infection, and the antibody levels are always used to evaluate their effectiveness. However, the cellular immunity response following immunization in cats remains unclear. This study investigated the immune responses (humoral and cellular) in cats immunized with the FHV-1 modified live virus vaccine. The results indicated that vaccination significantly reduced clinical signs, and antibody levels, including virus-neutralizing (VN) antibodies and immunoglobulin G (IgG), in the vaccine group were higher than those in the control groups. Additionally, the vaccine significantly increased cytokine secretion, indicating Th1-type cellular immune responses in cats. Moreover, cellular immune-related indicators, such as CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, and interferon-gamma levels, were inversely correlated with clinical signs post-challenge by FHV-1 in vaccinated cats, highlighting its crucial role in protecting cats against FHV-1 infection. In summary, this study demonstrated the importance of cellular immune responses in protecting cats from FHV-1 infection after vaccination.

    Keywords: Feline herpesvirus 1, MLV vaccine, Cats, Cellular immune responses, IFNγ

    Received: 28 Oct 2024; Accepted: 16 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wu, Qiao, Chen, Liu, Huo, Ding, Wang, Wang, Xi, Liu and Tian. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Yuxiu Liu, National Research Center for Veterinary Medicine, Henan, China
    Kegong Tian, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450002, Henan Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.