COMPARATIVE EFFICIENCY OF FELINE IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS-INFECTION BY DNA INOCULATION

Direct inoculation of genetic material in DNA form is a novel approach to vaccination that has proved efficacious for a number of viral agen ts, We are interested in the potential of this approach for the delive ry of vaccines based on attenuated or replication-defective retrovirus es. Toward this goal, we tested the effect of intramuscular inoculatio n of a plasmid containing the entire genome of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV-Petaluma, F14 clone), DNA delivery was compared with intra muscular or intraperitoneal inoculation of virus reconstituted from th e same molecular clone, The outcome was monitored by serological analy sis and quantitative virus load determination over a 31-week period, D NA inoculation was found to be a reliable means of infection, although seroconversion and the rise in PBMC virus load were delayed relative to intramuscular or intraperitoneal inoculation of virus, At 31 weeks, similar levels of proviral DNA were detected in central lymphoid tiss ue of all infected animals, In conclusion, DNA inoculation of proviral DNA will be of use as a novel method of cell-free virus challenge and may have further potential for the delivery of lentiviral vaccines.