Comparative efficacy of a recombinant feline interferon omega in refractory cases of calicivirus-positive cats with caudal stomatitis: A randomised, multi-centre, controlled, double-blind study in 39 cats

Abstract

Chronic caudal stomatitis with alveolar/buccal mucositis in calicivirus-positive cats is the most severe presentation of feline chronic gingivostomatitis. Refractory cases are helped by antibiotic and anti-inflammatory treatments often including glucocorticoids. In order to evaluate the comparative efficacy of oromucosal administration of recombinant feline interferon omega (rFeIFN-ω) versus oral administration of glucocorticoids, a randomised, multi-centre, controlled, double-blind study was performed in 39 cats. The progression of behavioural, clinical and lesional scores was assessed over 90 days. Daily oromucosal treatment with 0.1 MU of rFeIFN-ω was associated with a significant improvement of clinical lesions (caudal stomatitis and alveolar/buccal mucositis) and a decrease of pain scores from D0 to D90. Although no such statistical improvement was noticed in the prednisolone group, there was, however, no significant difference between the two groups for most of the parameters, except pain at D60 and D90.

Interferon-omega: Current status in clinical applications

“…Despite the fact that it is not licensed to treat other viral infections, it exhibits efficacy when used to treat other viral infections such as bovine enterovirus, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus, bovine viral diarrhea virus, vesicular stomatitis virus, pseudorabies virus, European bat lyssavirus, influenza virus, feline calicivirus (FCV), and feline herpesvirus-1 (FHV-1) [20,28,34,57]. The rFeIFN-ω licensed protocol consists of three therapeutic cycles of five daily subcutaneous injections (1 MU/kg), beginning respectively on days 0, 14, and 60 [58]. However, its widespread use is limited because this protocol is relatively expensive and time-consuming.…”

“…Some alternative subcutaneous and topical protocols, such as oral and intralesional administration, have been suggested [59,60]. Interestingly, no adverse effects were found in cats treated with rFeIFN-ω following mucosal administration [58,61], while subcutaneous administration was accompanied by some mild adverse effects (e.g., fever, lethargy, vomiting, and diarrhea) in some trials [46]. Thus, rFeIFN-ω could become an option for treatment in veterinary clinical practice.…”

Feline Foamy Virus Adversely Affects Feline Mesenchymal Stem Cell Culture and Expansion: Implications for Animal Model Development

“…For example, feline chronic gingivostomatitis (FCGS) is a common, chronic immune-mediated oral mucosal disease in cats that is the result of a dysregulated and aberrant immune response. FCGS has an incompletely understood etiopathogenesis [18][19][20]. The ability of MSCs to inhibit T-cell proliferation and modulate T-and B-cell function suggests that FCGS may be an ideal lesion for MSC-based regenerative medicine therapy.…”

Antiviral effect of mefloquine on feline calicivirus in vitro

“…Efficacy of both human and feline interferons has been demonstrated in vitro against FCV (Fulton and Burge, 1985;Mochizuki et al, 1994;Taira et al, 2005;Truyen et al, 2002) and the use of rFeIFN-v has been reported to have a positive therapeutic effect in FCV infected cats in experimental and field efficacy trials (Ninomiya et al, 1991;Ohe et al, 2008). Treatment with rFeIFN-v was also associated with an improvement in clinical signs in cats with refractory FCGS in a double-blinded placebo-controlled study, however FCV shedding was not monitored, making it unclear whether the improvement was due to the antiviral or immunomodulatory properties of interferon (Hennet et al, 2011). Recently, feline calicivirus specific antiviral phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMO) were tested in naturally occurring outbreaks of FCV-VSD (Smith et al, 2008) and were highly efficacious, with treatment resulting in improved survival, reduction in shedding, and a more rapid clinical recovery.…”