Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Veterinary Infectious Diseases Research Unit, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Mahasarakham University, Maha Sarakham 44000, Thailand.
Viruses. 2024 Aug 21;16(8):1339. doi: 10.3390/v16081339.
Feline morbillivirus (FeMV) has been associated with feline health, although its exact role in pathogenesis is still debated. In this study, an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (i-ELISA) targeting a recombinant matrix protein of FeMV (rFeMV-M) was developed and assessed in comparison to a Western blotting (WB) assay. The i-ELISA was evaluated using blood samples from 136 cats that were additionally tested with real-time reverse-transcription PCR (RT-qPCR). The i-ELISA exhibited a sensitivity of 90.1%, specificity of 75.6%, positive predictive value of 88.2%, and negative predictive value of 79.1%. The agreement between i-ELISA and WB analyses was substantial (a κ coefficient of 0.664 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.529 to 0.799). Within the study group, 68.4% (93/136) of the cats were serologically positive in the i-ELISA and 66.9% (91/136) in the WB assay, with 11.8% (11/93) of false positivity with the i-ELISA. However, only 8.1% (11/136) of the cats tested positive for FeMV using RT-qPCR ( < 0.001). The developed i-ELISA proved effective in identifying FeMV-infected cats and indicated the prevalence of FeMV exposure. Combining FeMV antibody detection through i-ELISA with FeMV RT-qPCR could offer a comprehensive method to determine and monitor FeMV infection status. Nevertheless, this assay still requires refinement due to a significant number of false positive results, which can lead to the misdiagnosis of cats without antibodies as having antibodies. This study also provided the first evidence of seroprevalence against FeMV among cat populations in Thailand, contributing valuable insights into the geographic distribution and prevalence of this virus.
猫传染性呼吸道病病毒（FeMV）与猫的健康有关，尽管其在发病机制中的确切作用仍存在争议。在这项研究中，开发了一种针对 FeMV 基质蛋白的间接酶联免疫吸附试验（i-ELISA），并与 Western blot 分析（WB）进行了比较。该 i-ELISA 使用来自 136 只猫的血液样本进行评估，这些样本还通过实时逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-qPCR）进行了测试。i-ELISA 的敏感性为 90.1%，特异性为 75.6%，阳性预测值为 88.2%，阴性预测值为 79.1%。i-ELISA 与 WB 分析之间的一致性较高（κ系数为 0.664，95%置信区间为 0.529 至 0.799）。在研究组中，68.4%（93/136）的猫在 i-ELISA 中呈血清学阳性，66.9%（91/136）在 WB 分析中呈阳性，i-ELISA 的假阳性率为 11.8%（11/93）。然而，仅 8.1%（11/136）的猫通过 RT-qPCR 检测到 FeMV 呈阳性（<0.001）。开发的 i-ELISA 被证明能够有效地识别 FeMV 感染的猫，并表明 FeMV 暴露的流行率。通过 i-ELISA 检测 FeMV 抗体与 FeMV RT-qPCR 相结合，可能提供一种全面的方法来确定和监测 FeMV 感染状态。然而，由于大量的假阳性结果，该检测方法仍需要进一步改进，这可能导致没有抗体的猫被误诊为具有抗体。本研究还首次提供了泰国猫群中针对 FeMV 的血清流行率证据，为该病毒的地理分布和流行率提供了有价值的见解。
