Renal Disease in Cats Infected with Feline Immunodeficiency Virus

• Published in: Journal of veterinary internal medicine 2012-03, Vol.26 (2), p.238-243
• Main Authors: Baxter, K.J., Levy, J.K., Edinboro, C.H., Vaden, S.L., Tompkins, M.B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Azotemia; Blood Urea Nitrogen; Cats; CD4-CD8 Ratio - veterinary; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - virology; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes - virology; Creatinine - blood; Cross-Sectional Studies; Feline Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - blood; Feline Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - complications; Feline Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - immunology; Feline Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - virology; Female; Glomerulonephropathy; Human immunodeficiency virus – associated nephropathy; Immunodeficiency Virus, Feline - isolation & purification; Kidney Diseases - blood; Kidney Diseases - immunology; Kidney Diseases - veterinary; Kidney Diseases - virology; Male; Prospective Studies; Proteinuria; Proteinuria - veterinary; Retrospective Studies; Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms; Statistics, Nonparametric
• ISSN: 0891-6640; 1939-1676
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1939-1676.2011.00871.x

Background Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection cause similar clinical syndromes of immune dysregulation, opportunistic infections, inflammatory diseases, and neoplasia. Renal disease is the 4th most common cause of death associated with HIV infection. Objective To investigate the association between FIV infection and renal disease in cats. Animals Client‐owned cats (153 FIV‐infected, 306 FIV‐noninfected) and specific‐pathogen‐free (SPF) research colony cats (95 FIV‐infected, 98 FIV‐noninfected). Methods A mixed retrospective/prospective cross‐sectional study. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine, urine specific gravity (USG), and urine protein:creatinine ratio (UPC) data were compared between FIV‐infected and FIV‐noninfected cats. In FIV‐infected cats, total CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes were measured using flow cytometry, and CD4+:CD8+ T lymphocyte ratio was calculated. Renal azotemia was defined as a serum creatinine ≥ 1.9 mg/dL with USG ≤ 1.035. Proteinuria was defined as a UPC > 0.4 with an inactive urine sediment. Results Among the client‐owned cats, no association was detected between FIV infection and renal azotemia (P = .24); however, a greater proportion of FIV‐infected cats were proteinuric (25.0%, 16 of 64 cats) compared to FIV‐noninfected cats (10.3%, 20 of 195 cats) (P