Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Fecal calprotectin levels linked to severity and treatment in dogs
By Heilmann, Romy M et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2018·Small Animal Clinic, Germany·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Association of fecal calprotectin concentrations with disease severity, response to treatment, and other biomarkers in dogs with chronic inflammatory enteropathies.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 127 dogs with chronic inflammatory bowel disease (CIE) had their fecal calprotectin levels tested to see if it could help understand their disease severity and treatment response. The study found that higher levels of fecal calprotectin were linked to more severe disease and that it might help differentiate between dogs that respond to food or antibiotics versus those needing stronger medications. While the results suggest that fecal calprotectin could be a useful tool for vets, more research is needed to confirm its effectiveness in predicting how well dogs will respond to treatment.
People also search for: dog inflammatory bowel disease symptoms · dog fecal calprotectin test · treatment for dog chronic diarrhea
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Calprotectin is a marker of inflammation, but its clinical utility in dogs with chronic inflammatory enteropathies (CIE) is unknown. OBJECTIVE: Evaluation of fecal calprotectin in dogs with biopsy-confirmed CIE. ANIMALS: 127 dogs. METHODS: Prospective case-control study. Dogs were assigned a canine chronic enteropathy clinical activity index (CCECAI) score, and histologic lesions severity was assessed. Fecal calprotectin, fecal S100A12, and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured. Food- or antibiotic-responsive cases (FRE/ARE, n = 13) were distinguished from steroid-/immunosuppressant-responsive or -refractory cases (SRE/IRE, n = 20). Clinical response to treatment in SRE/IRE dogs was classified as complete remission (CR), partial response (PR), or no response (NR). RESULTS: Fecal calprotectin correlated with CCECAI (ρ = 0.27, P = .0065) and fecal S100A12 (ρ = 0.90, P < .0001), some inflammatory criteria, and cumulative inflammation scores, but not serum CRP (ρ = 0.16, P = .12). Dogs with SRE/IRE had higher fecal calprotectin concentrations (median: 2.0 μg/g) than FRE/ARE dogs (median: 1.4 μg/g), and within the SRE/IRE group, dogs with PR/NR had higher fecal calprotectin (median: 37.0 μg/g) than dogs with CR (median: 1.6 μg/g). However, both differences did not reach statistical significance (both P = .10). A fecal calprotectin ≥15.2 μg/g separated both groups with 80% sensitivity (95% confidence interval [95%CI]: 28%-100%) and 75% specificity (95%CI: 43%-95%). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Fecal calprotectin could be a useful surrogate marker of disease severity in dogs with CIE, but larger longitudinal studies are needed to evaluate its utility in predicting the response to treatment.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29460444/