Research overview: FIV as a comparative animal model for HIV/AIDS

Because FIV causes a naturally occurring, lifelong immunodeficiency in an outbred host, it became a prized small-animal model for lentiviral pathogenesis, antiretroviral testing, and vaccine concepts. Investigators have used it to study CD4+ depletion, mucosal and neurologic infection, latency, and immune escape under conditions more representative of natural infection than laboratory-adapted systems. Drug classes including nucleoside analogs and integrase inhibitors have been evaluated in cats. This overview surveys the comparative-model literature rather than a single study, explaining what FIV captures and misses about human HIV, why the cat's full immune competence adds value over rodent models, and how feline research has reciprocally improved care for infected cats themselves.