Serologic, Virologic and Pathologic Features of Cats with Naturally Occurring Feline Infectious Peritonitis Enrolled in Antiviral Clinical Trials

Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a multisystemic, generally lethal immuno-inflammatory disease of domestic cats caused by an infection with a genetic variant of feline coronavirus, referred to as the FIP virus (FIPV). We leveraged data from four different antiviral clinical trials performed at the University of California, Davis. Collectively, a total of 60 client-owned domestic cats, each with a confirmed diagnosis of naturally occurring FIP, were treated with a variety of antiviral compounds. The tested therapies included the antiviral compounds GS-441524, remdesivir, molnupiravir and allogeneic feline mesenchymal stem/stroma cell transfusions. Four client-owned cats with FIP did not meet the inclusion criteria for the trials and were not treated with antiviral therapies; these cats were included in the data set as untreated FIP control cats. ELISA and Western blot assays were performed using feline serum/plasma or ascites effusions obtained from a subset of the FIP cats. Normalized tissue/effusion viral loads were determined in 34 cats by a quantitative RT-PCR of nucleic acids isolated from either effusions or abdominal lymph node tissue. Twenty-one cats were PCR “serotyped” (genotyped) and had the S1/S2 region of the coronaviral spike gene amplified, cloned and sequenced from effusions or abdominal lymph node tissue. In total, 3 untreated control cats and 14 (23.3%) of the 60 antiviral-treated cats died or were euthanized during (13) or after the completion of (1) antiviral treatment. Of these 17 cats, 13 had complete necropsies performed (10 cats treated with antivirals and 3 untreated control cats). We found that anticoronaviral serologic responses were persistent and robust throughout the treatment period, primarily the IgG isotype, and focused on the viral structural Nucleocapsid and Membrane proteins. Coronavirus serologic patterns were similar for the effusions and serum/plasma of cats with FIP and in cats entering remission or that died. Viral RNA was readily detectable in the majority of the cats in either abdominal lymph node tissue or ascites effusions, and all of the viral isolates were determined to be serotype I FIPV. Viral nucleic acids in cats treated with antiviral compounds became undetectable in ascites or abdominal lymph node tissue by 11 days post-treatment using a sensitive quantitative RT-PCR assay. The most common pathologic lesions identified in the necropsied cats were hepatitis, abdominal effusion (ascites), serositis, pancreatitis, lymphadenitis, icterus and perivasculitis. In cats treated with antiviral compounds, gross and histological lesions characteristic of FIP persisted for several weeks, while the viral antigen became progressively less detectable.