Evaluation of Serum Ferritin as a Tumor Marker for Canine Histiocytic Sarcoma

Abstract

Background: Canine histiocytic sarcoma (HS) is an aggressive malignancy. Hyperferritinemia has been documented in dogs with HS and could serve as a tumor marker aiding in diagnosis and treatment. In people, hyperferritinemia is found in inflammatory diseases, liver disease, and hemolysis, and thus may occur in dogs with these conditions.Objective: To determine if serum ferritin concentration is a tumor marker for canine HS. Animals: Dogs with HS (18), inflammatory diseases (20), liver disease (24), immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA) (15), and lymphoma (23).Methods: Prospective, observational, cohort study: Serum ferritin concentration was measured at initial diagnosis. Parametric methods were used to compare mean log ferritin concentrations among disease categories. Receiver-operating characteristic curves and likelihood ratios were used to evaluate serum ferritin concentration as a tumor marker.Results: Varying proportions of dogs with IMHA (94%), HS (89%), liver disease (79%), lymphoma (65%), and inflammatory diseases (40%) had hyperferritinemia. Dogs with IMHA had significantly higher mean ferritin concentration than dogs in all other categories. Dogs with HS had significantly higher mean ferritin concentration than those in the inflammatory disease and lymphoma categories. Mean serum ferritin concentration was not significantly different between dogs with HS and those with liver disease. Decision thresholds were determined to distinguish IMHA and HS from the other diseases associated with hyperferritinemia.Conclusion: Hyperferritinemia is common in dogs with HS and, after IMHA is ruled out, the degree of hyperferritinemia may be useful in differentiating dogs with HS from dogs with inflammatory diseases, liver disease, and lymphoma.

Serum amyloid A, haptoglobin, and ferritin in horses with colic: Association with common clinicopathological variables and short-term outcome

“…Ferritin serves as both an iron storage protein and an acute phase reactant (Friedrichs et al, 2010). However, its significance in horses remains unclear (Smith et al, 1986;Hyyppä et al, 2002).…”

“…Hyperferritinaemia occurs in people with haemolytic disorders and other diseases, such as malignancy and liver disease (Friedrichs et al, 2010). Ferritin content in animals is high in the spleen, liver, and bone marrow, but other tissue sources of ferritin, such as the heart and skeletal muscle have been less studied (Linder et al, 1981;Hyyppä et al, 2002).…”

“…Ferritin is an iron storage protein and its concentration decreases during iron deficiency (Smith et al, 1986). Increased ferritin concentrations are reported during iron overload, haemolysis, liver disease, and inflammation, and ferritin is considered a moderate positive APP in people and dogs (Friedrichs et al, 2010). Studies regarding ferritin in horses are limited and are often restricted to conditions other than colic (Smith et al, 1986;Hyyppä et al, 2002;Nielsen et al, 2012).…”

Serum iron, ferritin, transferrin and haptoglobin concentration variations during repeated show jumping competition in horse

“…In addition, the hyperferritinaemia found at J2 and J4 could be due to a stress response to exercise considering the well-known role of ferritin as an acute phase protein. The exercise-induced ferritin increase could be due to a tissue leakage of ferritin and in particular to splenic contraction but also to the increase of serum iron caused by intravascular haemolysis (Hyyppä et al 2002;Friedrichs et al 2010). The iron binding capacity of ferritin and its serum concentrations may be the first indicators of early iron deficiency (Ostojic and Ahmatovic 2008) which seems to be one of the most frequently encountered nutritional and/or exercise-related deficiencies in athletes.…”

Development of a Sandwich Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay to Detect and Measure Serum Levels of Canine Ferritin

“…Serum ferritin levels are altered in certain disease states, such as iron overload, inflammatory diseases, liver damage and malignancies [15]. In veterinary medicine, it has been reported that canine serum ferritin levels are increased in lymphoma, histiocytic sarcoma and immune mediate hemolytic anemia (IMHA) [3,7,10].…”