Immunomodulation therapy for feline leukemia virus infection

Clinically ill feline leukemia virus (FeLV)-infected cats, treated with Sta phylococcus protein A (SPA) or oral interferon alpha (IFN), or both, were c ompared with cats treated with saline (SAL). Nine cats received SPA/SAL, ni ne received SPA/IFN, 10 received SAL/IFN, and eight received SAL/SAL. Twelv e cats survived and completed the 10-week therapy. Significantly more owner s of cats treated with SPA/SAL thought their cat's health improved during t reatment compared to owners of cats treated with SAL/SAL (P=0.05, pair-wise comparison) or SPA/IFN (P=0.05, pair-wise comparison). No significant diff erences in body weight, temperature, hematocrit, red blood cell counts, mea n corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, reticulocyte counts, white blood ce ll or neutrophil numbers, lymphocyte concentrations, bone-marrow cytopathol ogy, FeLV status, survival time, activity, or appetite scores were observed . No significant differences in the owners' subjective assessment of their cat's health following treatment with SAL/IFN, SPA/IFN, or SAL/SAL were see n. Therapy with SPA as a single agent results in the owners' subjective imp ression of improved health of their FeLV-infected cats.