2017 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

Based on these results, it appears dogs and cats in the pet population have some circulating antibodies capable of binding to AAV8 and AAV9 particles. However, without concurrent neutralizing antibody levels, the clinical significance of this finding is unknown. If a correlation between circulating antibody titers and neutralizing antibody titers exists, it would suggest that potential candidates for gene therapy drawn from a pet population might require screening for antibodies or immunosuppressive therapy prior to receiving AAV vector based treatment. With the increasing interest in gene therapy as a potential treatment modality for a variety of human diseases, large animal models including dogs and cats are often used in preclinical studies. There has also been interest in using these techniques to treat diseases that affect pet populations. Adeno-associated virus (AAV) based vectors are among the most common utilized delivery mechanisms and circulating antibodies capable of binding to AAV8 and AAV9 particles have been identified in pet dogs and cats. The primary objective of this study was to identify whether some of these same pets might have neutralizing antibody titers against AAV8 and AAV9 transduction.