Aleutian Disease Virus Antibody Research Articles

Quantitative Detection of Antibodies to Aleutian Disease Virus in Dried Blood Spots as an Estimation of Hypergammaglobulinemia in Mink

Infections with Aleutian disease virus (ADV) cause a progressive hypergammaglobulinemia, immune complex formation and plasma cell infiltrations in internal organs which induce a multi-systemic disease with high mortality. Serum ADV antibodies have traditionally been diagnosed with counter immunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) as a gold standard for qualitative assessment separating infected from non-infected animals, but less laborious ELISA methods have been confirmed to be equally sensitive. A way to simplify the diagnostics further could be to demonstrate antibodies in Dried blood spot samples (DBS). However, quantitative analysis of ADV antibodies in DBS and its correlation to the degree of hypergammaglobulinemia have not been scientifically published. The aim of this paper was to describe the adaptation and validation of the VP2 ELISA to ADV antibody detection in DBS and compare the estimated antibody levels in DBS to CIEP results, the estimated antibody levels and albumin: gamma globulin ratio in serum. The VP2 ELISA worked technically well when transferred from serum to DBS with mean intra-assay and mean inter-assay coefficients of variation within ± 20%. The DBS VP2 ELISA had a sensitivity of 97.3% and specificity of 93.2% compared to CIEP. Further, we found a correlation coefficient between the level of antibodies in DBS and the A:γG ratio of -0.81. The correlation between the A:γG ratio and the OD450 value was superior in DBS compared to serum samples from the same mink with the most pronounced difference at low A:γG ratios. Our results confirmed that the VP2 ELISA could detect ADV antibodies in DBS with a high sensitivity and specificity when employing CIEP as gold standard. The antibody titers estimated with DBS VP2 ELISA were well correlated to the antibody titters and A:γG ratios in serum, and the DBS VP2 ELISA could be an applicable and preferable tool for estimating AD progression in mink.

Clusters of lymphoma in ferrets.

Cluster outbreaks of lymphoma and leukemia have been associated with viral infections in many species including humans, cattle, and cats. This study describes epidemiological, clinical, and pathological features of cluster outbreaks of lymphoma in multiferret households and examines and compares the Aleutian disease virus (ADV) and feline leukemia virus (FeLV) status of cases, ferrets at risk, and controls. Three ferret groups with 21 cases of histologically diagnosed lymphoma (12.6% cumulative incidence) and their cohabitants (n = 35) were examined and compared with three control groups (n = 52) of cohabitating ferrets without lymphoma. A familial distribution was observed in one group but most cases were not consanguinous. Ferrets greater than 3 years of age developed chronic disease in two of the groups and 2-year-old adults had acute disease in the remaining group. Lymphocytosis, splenomegaly, and lymphadenopathy were prominent features. Histologically, predominantly small noncleaved cell and polymorphous lymphoid lesions were observed. All of the ferrets with lymphoma that were tested for ADV and FeLV using serology or PCR were negative. The rate of ADV antibody among cases or ferrets at risk was not significantly different from controls. None of the cluster ferrets were seropositive for FeLV p27 antigen using a monoclonal ELISA. Infection with a novel ferret virus is suspected, but an etiological agent has not yet been identified.

Nursing disease in mink: clinical and postmortem findings.

One hundred fifty lactating mink on one ranch in southern Ontario were monitored over the lactation period in 1989 for evidence of clinical disease, and serial blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis. Antemortem blood samples were collected and necropsies performed on the 17 females that developed nursing disease and on 17 controls matched to the same stage of lactation and on ten nonlactating controls. Twenty-two additional nursing disease cases were selected from seven ranches in the following year and processed similarly. The clinical signs typically observed in affected females were sudden onset lethargy and anorexia followed by dehydration, ataxia, and a reluctance to move. The major clinical-pathologic findings were a marked increase in serum osmolality and total protein, urea nitrogen, creatinine, phosphorus, glucose, and potassium concentrations and a decrease in sodium and chloride concentration. In addition, the animals were acidotic, there was a reduction in the urine specific gravity, and the hemogram was consistent with a stress response. Emaciation and dehydration were the only pathologic changes consistently present in cases of nursing disease and not in controls. In almost all cases, bacteria were not cultured from the liver, spleen, and mammary gland, but Campylobacter jejuni was cultured from the intestinal contents of 15/17 affected mink and 2/5 controls. Aleutian disease virus antibody was not present in any of the affected mink. Lipid vacuoles in hepatocytes and renal tubular epithelium, hypertrophy of cells in the adrenal cortex, and pulmonary congestion and atelectasis were present in both diseased females and controls, as were various sporadic inflammatory lesions. Nursing disease may result from energy depletion due to lactation. All lactating females are affected by this process; clinical disease reflects the terminal physiologic decompensation of the most susceptible individuals.

Immunoglobulin classes of Aleutian disease virus antibody.

Aleutian disease virus (ADV) persistently infects mink and causes marked hypergammaglobulinemia. Immunoglobulin class-specific antisera were used to define the total immunoglobulin of each class by radial immunodiffusion and the immunoglobulin class of ADV-specific antibody by immunofluorescence in experimentally and naturally infected mink. Electrophoretic gamma globulin closely reflects the immunoglobulin G (IgG) level in mink, and the majority of the increased immunoglobulin and ADV antibody in infected mink is IgG. IgM becomes elevated within 6 days after infection, reaches peak levels by 15 to 18 days, and returns to normal by 60 days after infection. The first ADV antibody demonstrable is IgM, and most mink have virus-specific IgM antibody for at least 85 days postinfection. Serum IgA levels in normal mink are not normally distributed, and ADV infection causes a marked elevation of IgA. Low levels of ADV-specific IgA antibody can be shown throughout the course of infection. Failure of large amounts of virus-specific IgG antibody to inhibit the reaction of virus-specific IgM and IgA antibodies suggests that the various classes of antibodies are directed against spatially different antigenic determinants. The IgM and IgA were shown not to be rheumatoid factors.

Aleutian disease in ferrets.

When 32 antibody-free ferrets were inoculated with the highly mink-virulent Utah-1 strain of Aleutian disease virus (ADV), most developed ADV antibody starting 15 days after infection, but the antibody titers were much lower than those seen in mink. Relatively small amounts of ADV were demonstrated in CRFK cell culture, using ferret spleen and lymph node homogenates only 4 to 10 days after experimental infection, but low-level viral persistence for 180 days was shown by mink inoculation. The ferrets inoculated with the Utah-1 strain of ADV did not develop elevated gamma globulin levels, but did have mild tissue lesions. Forty-two percent of a group of 214, approximately 1-year-old, recently pregnant, female ferrets were found to have antibody to ADV. An analysis of the serum proteins of the ferrets with ADV antibody showed that they had a significant, but mild, elevation of their serum gamma globulin. Serial ferret-to-ferret transmission of a ferret strain of ADV by inoculation of spleen homogenates was demonstrated, and some of these ferrets developed liver lesions. Mink inoculated with ferret ADV made antibody, but did not develop hypergammaglobulinemia or tissue lesions. Although both ferret and mink strains of ADV replicate and persist in the ferret, they fail to cause severe disease of the type usually seen in the closely related mink. Mink and ferret ADV strains appear to be biologically distinct.

Reduced Severity of Lesions in Mink Infected Transplacentally with Aleutian Disease Virus

Inoculation of mink late in the second trimester of pregnancy with Aleutian disease virus (ADV) produces a persistent infection in the offspring. When these mink were analyzed at 83 days of age and compared with adolescent mink infected for a similar length of time, the transplacentally infected mink show: 1) a marked reduction in plasmacytosis, immunoglobulin level and specific ADV antibody; 2) increased amounts of infectious ADV and numbers of cells containing viral antigen; 3) a marked reduction in immune complex glomerulonephritis and absence of immune complex arteritis; 4) free ADV antigen in the glomeruli; and 5) a striking accumulation of eosinophils in the tissues. The findings suggest that the degree of ADV expression is partially immunologically controlled.