ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on perturbation of cytokines and immune regulation within the context of feline retrovirus infections (FeLV), it limits overview of FeLV and feline immunodeficiency virus to those characteristics that it believe are the major contributing factors to immunopathogenesis. It also focuses on the major targets of retrovirus-induced immune dysfunction. The chapter discusses only a few of the known cytokines, it is evident from the examples that the immune response to an antigen is characterized by a flow of information through a complex network of cells that is orchestrated by multiple cytokines and their specific receptors. Using the information derived from studies on HIV infections in humans, a number of investigators have evaluated cytokine therapies for feline retrovirus infections. Thus, efficacy for heterologous cytokine therapy in feline retrovirus infection can readily be demonstrated, but is limited by the formation of cytokine-specific neutralizing antibody.
