Guest edited collection serological study of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in japanese cats using protein-A/G-based ELISA

Ichiro Imanishi; Ryota Asahina; Shunji Hayashi; Jumpei Uchiyama; Masaharu Hisasue; Masahiro Yamasaki; Yoshiteru Murata; Shigeru Morikawa; Tetsuya Mizutani; Masahiro Sakaguchi

doi:10.1186/s12917-022-03527-7

Guest edited collection serological study of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in japanese cats using protein-A/G-based ELISA

BMC Vet Res. 2022 Dec 21;18(1):443. doi: 10.1186/s12917-022-03527-7.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbiology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Minami-ku Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa, Kanagawa, Japan. ichiro.i@med.kitasato-u.ac.jp.
² Faculty of Medicine, Department of Dermatology, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
³ Department of Microbiology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Minami-ku Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa, Kanagawa, Japan.
⁴ Department of Bacteriology, Graduate School of Medicine Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
⁵ Center for Human and Animal Symbiosis Science, Azabu University, Kanagawa, Japan.
⁶ Department of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Iwate University, Iwate, Japan.
⁷ Research and Education Center for Prevention of Global Infectious Diseases of Animals, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸ Murata Animal Hospital, Chiba, Japan.
⁹ Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Microbiology, Okayama University of Science, Ehime, Japan.
¹⁰ Institute of Tokyo Environmental Allergy, Tokyo, Japan.

Abstract

Background: Little is known about the epidemic status of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in cats in Japan due to insufficiently reliable seroepidemiological analysis methods that are easy to use in cats.

Results: We developed a protein-A/G-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in cats. The assay was standardized using positive rabbit antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. The ELISA results were consistent with those of a conventional anti-feline-immunoglobulin-G (IgG)-based ELISA. To test the protein-A/G-based ELISA, we collected blood samples from 1,969 cats that had been taken to veterinary clinics in Japan from June to July 2020 and determined the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Nine cats were found to have SARS-CoV-2 S1-specific IgG, of which 4 had recombinant receptor-binding domain-specific IgG. Of those 9 samples, one showed neutralizing activity. Based on these findings, we estimated that the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies in cats in Japan was 0.05% (1/1,969 samples). This prevalence was consistent with the prevalence of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in humans in Japan according to research conducted at that time.

Conclusions: Protein-A/G-based ELISA has the potential to be a standardized method for measuring anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in cats. The infection status of SARS-CoV-2 in cats in Japan might be linked to that in humans.

Keywords: Cats; Health risk behaviours; SARS-CoV-2; Seroepidemiological studies.

MeSH terms

Animals
Antibodies, Neutralizing
Antibodies, Viral
COVID-19* / diagnosis
COVID-19* / epidemiology
COVID-19* / veterinary
Cat Diseases* / diagnosis
Cat Diseases* / epidemiology
Cat Diseases* / virology
Cats
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / methods
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / veterinary
Immunoglobulin G
SARS-CoV-2

Substances

Antibodies, Neutralizing
Antibodies, Viral
Immunoglobulin G

Abstract

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding