Protein changes in blood of dogs with chronic gut disease

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Chronic enteropathy (CE) is common in dogs and can occur with multiple etiologies including food-responsive enteropathy (FRE) and idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVE: To study the protein profile and pathway differences among dogs with FRE, IBD, and healthy controls using serum proteome analysis. ANIMALS: Nine CE dogs with signs of gastrointestinal disease and histologically confirmed chronic inflammatory enteropathy and 16 healthy controls. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with cases recruited from 2 veterinary hospitals between May 2019 and November 2020 was performed. Serum samples were analyzed using mass spectrometry-based proteomic techniques. RESULTS: Proteomic profiles showed marked variation in relative protein abundances. Forty-five proteins were significantly (P ≤ .01) differentially expressed among the dogs with CE and controls with ≥2-fold change in abundance. The fold change of dogs with IBD normalized to controls was more pronounced for the majority of proteins than that seen in the dogs with FRE normalized to control dogs. Proteins involving reactive oxygen species, cytokine activation, acute phase response signaling, and lipid metabolism were altered in dogs with CE. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Cytokine alterations, acute phase response signaling, and lipid metabolism are likely involved in pathogenesis of CE. Although there are insufficient current data to justify the use of proteomic biomarkers for assessment of CE in dogs, our study identifies potential candidates.