title: Serum calprotectin concentrations in dogs with idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To measure serum calprotectin concentration in dogs with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) before and after initiation of treatment and evaluate its correlation with a clinical scoring system (canine IBD activity index), serum canine C-reactive protein concentration, and severity of histopathologic changes.
  
  
  METHODS
  34 dogs with idiopathic IBD and 139 healthy control dogs.
  
  
  METHODS
  From dogs with IBD, blood samples were collected immediately before (baseline) and 3 weeks after initiation of 1 of 2 treatments: prednisone (1 mg/kg, PO, q 12 h; n = 21) or a combination of prednisone and metronidazole (10 mg/kg, PO, q 12 h; 13). Blood samples were collected once from each of the control dogs. For all samples, serum calprotectin concentration was determined via radioimmunoassay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean serum calprotectin concentrations for dogs with IBD at baseline (431.1 μg/L) and 3 weeks after initiation of treatment (676.9 μg/L) were significantly higher, compared with that (219.4 μg/L) for control dogs, and were not significantly correlated with the canine IBD activity index, serum C-reactive protein concentration, or severity of histopathologic changes. The use of a serum calprotectin concentration of ≥ 296.0 μg/L as a cutoff had a sensitivity of 82.4% (95% confidence interval, 65.5% to 93.2%) and specificity of 68.4% (95% confidence interval, 59.9% to 76.0%) for distinguishing dogs with idiopathic IBD from healthy dogs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum calprotectin concentration may be a useful biomarker for the detection of inflammation in dogs, but the use of certain drugs (eg, glucocorticoids) appears to limit its clinical usefulness.
authors.affiliation: Gastrointestinal Laboratory, Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA. rheilmann@cvm.tamu.edu
authors.forename: Romy M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Heilmann
authors.forename: Albert E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Jergens
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Ackermann
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Barr
authors.forename: Jan S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Suchodolski
authors.forename: Jörg M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Steiner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D004285:Dogs; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D039841:Leukocyte L1 Antigen Complex / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008795:Metronidazole / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011241:Prednisone / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D015415:Biomarkers; D005938:Glucocorticoids; D039841:Leukocyte L1 Antigen Complex; D008795:Metronidazole; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D011241:Prednisone