Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Blood tests studied for detecting liver scarring in dogs
By Lidbury, Jonathan A et al.·Published in Canadian journal of veterinary research = Revue canadienne de recherche veterinaire·2016·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences (Lidbury, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Evaluation of hyaluronic acid, procollagen type III N-terminal peptide, and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-1 as serum markers of canine hepatic fibrosis.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with liver disease underwent testing to see if certain blood markers could help diagnose liver scarring (hepatic fibrosis). Researchers looked at three potential markers: hyaluronic acid, procollagen type III N-terminal peptide, and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-1. Unfortunately, the study found that these markers did not reliably indicate the severity of liver scarring in dogs. This means that vets may need to rely on liver biopsies for accurate diagnosis instead of these blood tests.
People also search for: dog liver disease symptoms · canine hepatic fibrosis diagnosis · liver biopsy for dogs
Abstract
The only way to diagnose hepatic fibrosis in dogs is by histological assessment of a liver biopsy specimen. As this technique is invasive and susceptible to sampling variation, serum biomarkers are used to detect hepatic fibrosis in humans. The objective of this study was to assess the utility of hyaluronic acid (HA), procollagen type III N-terminal peptide (PIIINP), and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) as serum markers of canine hepatic fibrosis. Serum samples were collected from 47 dogs with histologically confirmed hepatobiliary disease and 24 healthy dogs in order to measure concentrations of HA, PIIINP, and TIMP-1. Hepatic fibrosis was staged using a 5-point scoring scheme. There was no correlation between serum concentrations of HA or PIIINP and the severity of hepatic fibrosis. There was a negative correlation between serum concentration of TIMP-1 and the severity of hepatic fibrosis (= -0.33;= 0.036). It was not possible to use serum concentrations of HA, PIIINP, or TIMP-1 to discriminate between dogs with absent-to-moderate hepatic fibrosis and those with marked-to-very-marked fibrosis. The results of this study do not support the utility of measuring serum concentrations of HA, PIIINP, or TIMP-1 for diagnosing canine hepatic fibrosis. Further studies are needed to support this finding.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27733785/