Expressão gênica de citocinas em felinos (Felis catus) infectados e não infectados pelo herpesvírus felino tipo 1

Abstract

Objectives The objectives of this study were to investigate the prevalence of FeHV-1 in domestic cats and to associate the cytokine gene expressions: TNF-α, IL-6, IL1-β, IFN-α, IFN-β, IFN-γ in positive animals and negative to this virus. Methods The study was carried out with domestic cats from veterinary clinics and shelters in the metropolitan region of Belém. Samples of conjunctival swabs were collected in these animals and subjected to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extraction, these samples were evaluated using the conventional PCR technique, the in order to identify FeHV-1 infection. Blood samples were also collected and submitted to ribonucleic acid (RNA) extraction to evaluate the cytokine gene expression that was performed by the RT-PCR technique. The Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene was used as an endogenous gene. The expression of each gene was determined by the 2-ΔCt method. Gene expression profiles were tested for normality using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. And the student t test was applied to differentiate the levels of expression of these cytokines between FeHV-1 positive and negative animals through the SAS program (Free Version University Edition). The level of significance was p <0.05. Results Forty cats were included in the study and six (15%) cats were positive. The TNF-α and IL-6 genes showed significance (p <0.05), with the TNF-α gene expressing 2x more negatives and the IL-6 gene expressing 2x more positives. Conclusions and relevance The analysis of RT-PCR in the evaluation of gene expression profiles of cytokines in cats positive and negative for feline herpesvirus can be used to assess the immune status, as it suggests the stage of infection of these animals.