ABSTRACT
The present study describes an approach to the development and use of anti-idiotypic antibodies as a possible immunization strategy to prevent retroviral infection. The rationale for using anti-idiotypes (anti-Ids) to try to elicit an antigenic-specific immune response is examined, and the production and characterization of polyclonal and monoclonal anti-Ids are described. Several techniques were used to determine antigenic mimicry and anti-Id subtypes. The potential use of anti-Ids in feline leukemia virus (FeLV) receptor studies and vaccine trials in vivo were investigated. Results from these studies suggest that the anti-Id strategy is feasible for the FeLV model. Polyclonal Ab2 reagents were developed that blocked virus-receptor binding and thus inhibited viral infection in vitro and induced humoral immune responses in 6- to 8-week old kittens characterized by production of Ab3 with the ability to bind the original FeLV envelope protein gp70 as assessed by Western blot analysis.
Subject(s)
Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic/immunology , Antibodies, Viral/immunology , Feline Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/immunology , Leukemia Virus, Feline/immunology , Leukemia, Experimental/immunology , Viral Vaccines , Animals , Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic/biosynthesis , Antibodies, Viral/analysis , Blotting, Western , Cats , Chromatography, Affinity , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Feline Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/prevention & control , Goats , Immunoglobulin G/immunology , Leukemia, Experimental/prevention & control , Mice , Mice, Inbred BALB C , Viral Envelope Proteins/immunologyABSTRACT
In the present communication we evaluate the feline leukemia virus (FeLV) infection of cats as a model for antiretroviral chemotherapy studies. Additionally, we report the results of testing the antiviral effect of the compounds, 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT), 2',3'-dideoxycytidine, 2',3'-dideoxyinosine and 2',3'-dideoxyadenosine against FeLV replication in vitro. Cumulative data from experiments in which FeLV-infected cats were treated with AZT at different stages of experimental infection are also evaluated.