Procalcitonin as a biomarker in equine chronic pneumopathies

Abstract

BackgroundProcalcitonin (PCT), a precursor protein of the hormone calcitonin, is a sensitive inflammatory marker in human medicine, which is primarily used for diagnosis of bacterial sepsis, but is also useful in diagnosis of exacerbation of asthma and COPD. In this study, PCT was evaluated as a potential biomarker for different chronic pneumopathies in the horse using an equine specific ELISA in comparison to established clinical markers and different interleukins.Sixty-four horses were classified as free of respiratory disease, recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), inflammatory airway disease (IAD) or chronic interstitial pneumopathy (CIP) using a scoring system. PCT concentrations were measured in plasma (n = 17) and in the cell-free supernatant of bronchoalveolar lavage (n = 64). PCT concentrations were correlated to interleukins IL-1ß and IL-6 in BALF, clinical findings and BALF cytology.ResultsThe median PCT concentrations in plasma were increased in respiratory disease (174.46 ng/ml, n = 7) compared to controls (13.94 ng/ml, n = 10, P = 0.05) and correlated to PCT in BALF supernatant (rs = 0.48). Compared to controls (5.49 ng/ml, n = 15), median PCT concentrations in BALF supernatant correlated to the overall clinical score (rs = 0.32, P = 0.007) and were significantly increased in RAO (13.40 ng/ml, n = 21) and IAD (16.89 ng/ml, n = 16), while no differences were found for CIP (12.02 ng/ml, n = 12). No significant increases were found for IL-1 and IL-6 between controls and respiratory disease in general as well as different disease groups.ConclusionsAlthough some correlations were found between PCT in plasma, BALF supernatant and clinical scores, PCT in BALF does not seem to be a superior marker compared to established clinical markers. PCT in plasma seems to be more promising and a greater number of samples should be evaluated in further studies.

Evaluation of Plasmatic Procalcitonin in Healthy, and in Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) Negative or Positive Colic Horses

“…In this study, we found differences between healthy vs. total colic horses at admission time. Our results are in line with previous studies that reported differences between sick vs. healthy bovine [16,18,20,25], horses [14,15,19,24,26] and foals [13] affected by different diseases.…”

“…Procalcitonin (PCT) has been studied over the last few years as a biomarker of inflammation and/or infection, both in human [22] and in large animal species [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][23][24][25][26]. The aims of this study were to evaluate the potential differences in plasma PCT concentrations between healthy vs. SIRS-negative vs. SIRS-positive horses in order to understand if PCT can be a useful biomarker to distinguish between these conditions and drive clini-cal decisions of equine veterinarians and SIRS score in order to verify if this biomarker could be useful for the evaluation of SIRS severity.…”

Procalcitonin as an Endogenous Biomarker for Mastitis in Cows

“…No animals were diagnosed with hypercalcemia in our study, so the possibility that the increase in PCT was based on hypercalcemia and increased calcitonin was excluded, supporting Barton et al [23], who indicated that PCT increased independently of serum calcium levels during bacterial infections. This proved that PCT was not only important as a precursor protein of calcitonin responsible for regulating blood calcium levels but also had its own role in the body independent of calcium, when bacterial infections occur.…”

Molecularly imprinted polymers as effective capturing receptors in a pseudo-ELISA immunoassay for procalcitonin detection in veterinary species

“…Moreover, all the published papers dedicated to PCT detection in animals are refer to use of commercially available ELISA kits that are not fully validated in the target species, are expansive, and useful only for research purposes 72 . Notably, no analytical parameters are reported in literature for the equine PCT ELISA kits, and the only ones present are referred to the use of human anti-PCT antibodies, due to the current lack of specific anti-equine antibodies [73][74][75] . At the same time, acceptable analytical parameters are reported only for one type of canine PCT ELISA kit [68][69]76 .…”

“…72 Notably, no analytical parameters are reported in the literature for equine PCT ELISA kits, and the only ones present referred to the use of human anti-PCT antibodies, due to the current lack of specic anti-equine antibodies. [73][74][75] At the same time, acceptable analytical parameters are reported only for one type of canine PCT ELISA kit. 68,69,76 Based on the lack of fully reliable and practical tests, the aim of this work is to develop an innovative analytical assay, for the detection of PCT in veterinary species, by combining the practicality of commercial ELISA kits with the advantages of MIPs.…”