Host Susceptibility to Feline Infectious Peritonitis

Presentation Description / Summary: This presentation will explore the reasons why some cats are susceptible to Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) and others are not. In the first part of the presentation, new data will be presented relating to host genetics - highlighting host genetic variants that are associated with an increase in FIP risk. The second part of the presentation will consider the virus itself and show some examples of viral sequences acquired by sequencing the lymph nodes of cats affected with FIP. This will illustrate the role of viral mutation in FIP development and sequence data will also be compared to the viral sequence from the 2023 FIP outbreak in Cyprus. Finally, the host immune response to the virus across a range of tissues will be presented, using RNA-sequencing data. The key features of the immune response to feline coronavirus will be discussed, including the individual features of each cat which impact on the immune response, such as the MHC genes and the B-cell and T-cell immune repertoire. The session will conclude with reflections on the unanswered questions in FIP and the implications of the new anti-viral treatment strategies now in use.