Vaccination against feline leukaemia virus using a cell membrane antigen system.

Cats inoculated with live feline lymphoblastoid cells of the FL74 line developed high titres of antibody to feline oncornavirus-associated cell membrane antigen (FOCMA). Eight cats were subsequently challenged with a large dose of feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) of a highly pathogenic strain. All resisted infection while 10 cats given the challenge virus alone became infected. The FeLV produced by FL74 cells was shown to be of extremely low infectivity in cats and in cultured feline cells. Cats inoculated with either FL74 cells or virus purified from them did not become infected. The purified virus did not induce FOCMA antibody in cats not previously exposed to FeLV. The fact that FL74 cells are highly immunogenic, but produce virus of low infectivity, is of value in devising vaccines against FeLV. Cats were also inoculated with FL74 cells which had been inactivated with paraformaldehyde. They developed FOCMA antibody, reaching a peak titre of 256, and no virus could be cultured either from the vaccine preparations or from the tissues of the cats.