Current diagnostics for chronic enteropathies in dogs

Abstract

Chronic enteropathies (CEs) in dogs describe a group of idiopathic disorders characterized by chronic persistent or recurrent gastrointestinal (GI) signs. Three major subgroups of CE can be identified by their response to treatment: Food‐responsive disease (FRD), antibiotic‐responsive disease (ARD), and steroid‐responsive disease (SRD). The clinical diagnosis of CE is made by exclusion of all other possible causes of chronic diarrhea and includes histologic assessment of intestinal biopsies. The process of diagnosing canine CE can therefore be very time‐consuming and expensive, and in most cases, does not help to identify dogs that will respond to a specific treatment. The development of novel diagnostic tests for canine CE has therefore focused on the accuracy of such tests to predict treatment responses. In this article, several novel assays that have the potential to become commercially available will be discussed, such as genetic tests, perinuclear anti‐neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (pANCA), antibodies against transglutaminase/gliadin, antibodies against E coli OmpC/flagellin, and micro RNAs.

Clinical characteristics of dogs presenting with vomiting as a gastrointestinal sign of chronic enteropathy

“…However, these breeds are not popular in Japan, and none of these dog breeds, except for two Border Collies, were included in this study. Genetic predisposition is an important factor for the development of CE in dogs ( Allenspach & Mochel, 2022 ). Therefore, clinical features of the CE dogs in this study might differ from those of the CE dogs in other countries, where medium- or large-breed dogs are predominant.…”

Elucidating the Role of Innate and Adaptive Immune Responses in the Pathogenesis of Canine Chronic Inflammatory Enteropathy—A Search for Potential Biomarkers

“…Both commensals and pathogenic bacteria express pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) on their surface, which are recognized by host pattern recognition receptors PRRs [116]. Among the best characterized PRRs are Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and NOD-like receptors (NOD) [117,118].…”

“…Under normal conditions, PRRs recognize antigens from food and commensal bacteria inducing tolerogenic responses. In canine CIE, these antigens, which normally induce immune tolerance, trigger an inflammatory response, with proliferation of T lymphocytes and production of several pro-inflammatory cytokines [116]. Thus, an increased TLR2, TLR4, and TLR9 mRNA expression in dogs with CIE has been described [119,120].…”

“…While all these results provide valuable information for the development of possible genetic markers of CIE, it should be considered that CIE is a polygenetic disorder. Furthermore, these potential genetic markers would in many cases be expected to be breed-dependent [116].…”

Expression of genes encoding interleukin 15 and its receptor subunits in the duodenal and colonic mucosae of dogs with chronic enteropathy

“…The treatment of canine IBD typically requires immunosuppressive drugs, including glucocorticoids. Therefore, canine IBD is called steroid-responsive disease ( Allenspach & Mochel, 2022 ) or immunosuppressant-responsive enteropathy (IRE) ( Dandrieux, 2016 ). In contrast, GI sings in dogs with FRE and ARE are improved with dietary or antibiotic treatments, respectively ( Allenspach, Culverwell & Chan, 2016 ).…”