Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
IgE levels in healthy, asthmatic, and parasitized cats explained
By Delgado, Cherlene et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2010·Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Feline-specific serum total IgE quantitation in normal, asthmatic and parasitized cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A study found that asthmatic and parasitized cats had higher levels of a specific immune protein called IgE in their blood compared to healthy cats. The researchers measured IgE levels in healthy cats, cats with asthma, and those with parasitic infections. While the levels were significantly higher in the sick cats, the test wasn't very effective at distinguishing between healthy and unhealthy cats. This information could help in future research on allergies and parasites in cats, but it may not be a reliable diagnostic tool on its own.
Abstract
Immunoglobulin E (IgE) plays an important role in defense against parasitic infections as well as allergy. Knowledge of serum total IgE concentrations may have value in diagnosis and prognostication of various disorders; however, to date, no studies have reported feline serum total IgE concentrations. We hypothesize that serum total IgE concentrations will be greater in spontaneously parasitized and asthmatic cats compared to healthy pet cats. Healthy (n=10), parasitized (10) and asthmatic cats (eight) had measurement of serum total IgE by ELISA. Data were analyzed using a t-test with P<0.05 considered significant. Serum total IgE was higher in parasitized (mean±SEM, 328.4±123.8μg/ml; P<0.028) and asthmatic cats (85.5±19.5μg/ml; P<0.047) compared to healthy cats (45.9±19.6μg/ml). However, serum total IgE had poor discriminatory capability between diseased and healthy cats. In conclusion, this assay can detect small quantities of feline serum total IgE, which may be beneficial in future studies of parasitism or allergic disease.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21109474/