Fecal acute phase proteins in cats with chronic enteropathies

Abstract

BackgroundChronic enteropathies (CE) are common in cats and reliable biomarkers that can distinguish different causes and predict or monitor response to treatment are currently lacking.HypothesisTo evaluate certain acute phase proteins in feces that could potentially be used as biomarkers in cats with CE.AnimalsTwenty‐eight cats with either inflammatory bowel disease (IBD; n = 13), food‐responsive enteropathy (FRE; n = 3) or small cell gastrointestinal lymphoma (SCGL; n = 12) and 29 healthy control cats were prospectively enrolled.MethodsFecal concentrations of haptoglobin, alpha‐1‐acid‐glycoprotein (AGP), pancreatitis‐associated protein‐1 (PAP‐1), ceruloplasmin, and C‐reactive protein (CRP) were measured using Spatial Proximity Analyte Reagent Capture Luminescence (SPARCL) immunoassays before and after initiation of treatment. Cats were treated with diet and/or prednisolone (IBD cats), plus chlorambucil (SCGL cats).ResultsCompared with controls, median fecal AGP concentrations were significantly lower (25.1 vs 1.8 μg/g; P = .003) and median fecal haptoglobin (0.17 vs 0.5 μg/g), PAP‐1 (0.04 vs 0.4 μg/g) and ceruloplasmin (0.15 vs 4.2 μg/g) concentrations were significantly higher (P < .001) in cats with CE. Median fecal AGP concentrations were significantly lower (P = .01) in cats with IBD and FRE (0.6 μg/g) compared with cats with SCGL (10.75 μg/g). A significant reduction was found in CE cats after treatment for median fecal ceruloplasmin concentrations (6.36 vs 1.16 μg/g; P = .04).ConclusionsFecal AGP concentration shows promise to differentiate cats with SCGL from cats with IBD and FRE. Fecal ceruloplasmin concentrations may be useful to objectively monitor response to treatment in cats with CE.

Evaluation of the fatty acid-based erythrocyte membrane lipidome in cats with food responsive enteropathy, inflammatory bowel disease and low-grade intestinal T-cell lymphoma

“…Similarly to the previous findings in the study on dogs [ 23 ], the composition of RBC membranes in terms of FA percentages in cats was not capable of discriminating among the different forms of chronic enteropathy (FRE, IBD, LGITL). This outcome is not surprising, as currently there is no single diagnostic criterion or established biomarker available that can reliably differentiate IBD from LGITL of cats [ 4 , 55 – 58 ]. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that both conditions often coexist within the same individual, which poses a challenge in distinguishing the various forms of FCE [ 5 ].…”