Urinary clusterin as a renal marker in dogs.

Abstract

A validation of a species-specific enzyme immunoassay for urinary clusterin measurement in dogs was performed, and the use of urinary clusterin as a marker of renal damage was evaluated in a population of dogs with leishmaniasis. Urine was obtained from 75 dogs; 64 dogs had leishmaniasis and 11 were healthy. The dogs with leishmanias were divided into 5 groups: I (n = 9; serum creatinine [SCr] < 1.4 mg/dl, urinary protein-to-creatinine [UPC] ratio &#x2264; 0.5); II (n = 29; SCr < 1.4 mg/dl, UPC > 0.5); III (n = 6; SCr &#x2265; 1.4 mg/dl to <2 mg/dl, UPC > 0.5); IV (n = 13; SCr &#x2265; 2 mg/dl to <5 mg/dl, UPC > 0.5); and V (n = 7; SCr &#x2265; 5 mg/dl, UPC > 0.5). The urinary clusterin concentration was measured, and the urinary clusterin-to-creatinine ratio was calculated. Canine urinary clusterin assay showed good analytical performance based on precision accuracy and limit-of-detection results. There was a statistically significant increase in urinary clusterin and clusterin-to-creatinine ratio in groups II-V compared with group I and healthy group. The results of the current study showed that urinary clusterin concentration and urinary clusterin-to-creatinine ratios are increased in dogs with analytical evidences of renal damage and that the urinary clusterin-to-creatinine ratio might be used as a potential early biomarker of chronic kidney disease.