VGX Animal Health

CATS WITH RENAL FAILURE

Studies have shown that Growth Hormone (GH) and IGF-I improves renal function in human patients with renal failure. In veterinary applications, current therapy for chronic renal failure (CRF) - associated anemia in cats is erythropoietin (EPO) of human origin, and more a recently, a recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector encoding for feline EPO. Effective response to human EPO decreases over time due to the formation of antibodies and the virally delivered feline EPO while successful in treating anemia still has some side effects.

A single intramuscular dose of a plasmid expressing GHRH, immediately followed by short electroporation procedure was given to cats with CRF. The cats had a clinically determined life expectancy of 90 days with blood urea nitrogen (BUN) value of > 30 mg/dl or creatinine value of > 2 mg/dl. After 75 day follow up, body weight increased 10 to 20%, plasma IGF-I levels increased, protein metabolism as measured by increased total protein concentration in serum was significantly improved in treated cats and, most importantly, several hematological parameters, including red blood cells, hematocrit and hemoglobin were significantly improved as early as day 20 post-treatment. Kidney function as measured by BUN and creatinine, was maintained throughout the study.

These results provided support for the use of GHRH-expressing plasmids in the treatment of anemia associated with CRF in cats. Further studies in a larger population are planned.