AUTHOR=Gu Hongxia , Wu Huisheng 
  
TITLE=The value of serum exosomal miRNA signature profiles for the early diagnosis of feline infectious peritonitis
  
JOURNAL=Experimental Biology and Medicine
  
VOLUME=Volume 251 - 2026
  
YEAR=2026
  
URL=https://www.ebm-journal.org/journals/experimental-biology-and-medicine/articles/10.3389/ebm.2026.10915
  
DOI=10.3389/ebm.2026.10915
  
ISSN=1535-3699
  
ABSTRACT=Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) is a highly lethal disease in cats, and early differential diagnosis remains a significant clinical challenge. In this study, we analyzed differences in serum exosomal miRNA expression between FIP-affected cats and healthy control cats via high-throughput sequencing and identified five significantly differentially expressed miRNAs (miR-21-5p, miR-155-5p, miR-200c-3p, miR-486-5p, and miR-423-5p). A combined diagnostic model was constructed based on three key miRNAs (miR-21-5p, miR-155-5p, and miR-423-5p). ROC curve analysis showed that a combined model of these three key miRNAs had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.93, with a sensitivity and specificity of 88.6% and 91.2%, respectively. These results indicate that the serum exosomal miRNA signature could be used as a novel biomarker for the early diagnosis of FIP, providing a non-invasive diagnostic tool in clinical practice.