Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
IgG antibody levels linked to heart enlargement in Beagle dogs
By Guedes, Paulo M M et al.·Published in Veterinary immunology and immunopathology·2008·Departamento de Parasitologia, Brazil·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: IgG isotype profile is correlated with cardiomegaly in Beagle dogs infected with distinct Trypanosoma cruzi strains.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of Beagle dogs infected with different strains of the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite showed signs of heart enlargement (cardiomegaly). The study found that dogs with cardiomegaly had lower levels of a specific antibody (IgG1) during the chronic phase of the infection compared to those without heart issues. This suggests that measuring IgG1 levels could help veterinarians assess the severity of heart problems related to Chagas disease in dogs.
People also search for: Beagle heart disease symptoms · Trypanosoma cruzi in dogs · dog cardiomegaly treatment
Abstract
A systematic study following infection by various strains of the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, and the simultaneous monitoring of the humoral immune response together with the elicited cellular response, could add greatly to our understanding of differences between strains of this important human pathogen. In that sense, acute and chronic infections with distinct T. cruzi strains (Y, Berenice-78 and ABC) in Beagle dogs were studied through a longitudinal evaluation of immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgG1 and IgG2 isotypes (by ELISA and flow cytometry (FC)), as well as measurements of peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) proliferation over a 100-week period, and their correlation with cardiomegaly. Our results show that infected animals presenting cardiomegaly showed lower or absent levels of IgG1 during the chronic phase of the infection, when compared to those that did not show an increase in heart weight. In that manner, our results suggest that IgG1 could be used as a marker for cardiac pathogenicity in Chagas disease.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18439688/