Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cerebrospinal fluid test helps diagnose degenerative myelopathy
By Toedebusch, C M et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2017·Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Cerebrospinal Fluid Levels of Phosphorylated Neurofilament Heavy as a Diagnostic Marker of Canine Degenerative Myelopathy.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with degenerative myelopathy (DM), a progressive disease affecting the spinal cord, had their cerebrospinal fluid tested for a specific protein called phosphorylated neurofilament heavy (pNF-H) to see if it could help diagnose the condition. The results showed that dogs with DM had significantly higher levels of pNF-H compared to healthy dogs and those with similar symptoms. This test was found to be quite accurate, with a high rate of correctly identifying DM cases. While this biomarker shows promise for diagnosing DM, more research is needed to confirm its effectiveness in a larger group of dogs.
People also search for: dog degenerative myelopathy diagnosis · cerebrospinal fluid test for dogs · pNF-H levels in dogs
Abstract
BACKGROUND: No definitive, antemortem diagnostic test for canine degenerative myelopathy (DM) is available. Phosphorylated neurofilament heavy (pNF-H) is a promising biomarker for nervous system diseases. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVE: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum pNF-H is a detectable biological marker for diagnosis of canine DM. ANIMALS: Fifty-three DM-affected, 27 neurologically normal, 7 asymptomatic at-risk, and 12 DM mimic dogs. METHODS: Archived CSF and serum pNF-H concentrations were determined by a commercially available ELISA. A receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve was generated with CSF values. RESULTS: Compared with old control dogs, median CSF pNF-H concentration was increased in all stages of DM; old dogs 5.1 ng/mL (interquartile range [IQR] 1.4-9.3) versus DM stage 1 23.9 ng/mL (IQR 20.8-29.6; P < .05) versus DM stage 2 36.8 ng/mL (IQR 22.9-51.2; P < .0001) versus DM stage 3 25.2 ng/mL (IQR 20.2-61.8; P < .001) versus DM stage 4 38.0 ng/mL (IQR 11.6-59.9; P < .01). Degenerative myelopathy stage 1 dogs had increased median CSF pNF-H concentrations compared with asymptomatic, at-risk dogs (3.4 ng/mL [IQR 1.5-10.9; P < .01]) and DM mimics (6.6 ng/mL [IQR 3.0-12.3; P < .01]). CSF pNF-H concentration >20.25 ng/mL was 80.4% sensitive (confidence interval [CI] 66.09-90.64%) and 93.6% specific (CI 78.58-99.21%) for DM. Area under the ROC curve was 0.9467 (CI 0.92-0.9974). No differences in serum pNF-H concentration were found between control and DM-affected dogs. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: pNF-H concentration in CSF is a sensitive biomarker for diagnosis of DM. Although there was high specificity for DM in this cohort, further study should focus on a larger cohort of DM mimics, particularly other central and peripheral axonopathies.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28186658/