Investigation of a commercial ELISA for the detection of canine procalcitonin.
BACKGROUND
Rapid identification of sepsis enables prompt administration of antibiotics and is essential to improve patient survival. Procalcitonin (PCT) is a biomarker used to diagnose sepsis in people. Commercial assays to measure canine PCT peptide have not been validated.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the validity of a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) marketed for the measurement of canine PCT.


METHODS
Three dogs with sepsis, 1 healthy dog, 1 dog with thyroid carcinoma.


METHODS
Experimental study. The ELISA's ability to detect recombinant and native canine PCT was investigated and intra-assay and interassay coefficients of variability were calculated. Assay validation including mass spectrometry of the kit standard solution was performed.


RESULTS
The ELISA did not consistently detect recombinant canine PCT. Thyroid lysate yielded a positive ELISA signal. Intra-assay variability ranged from 18.9 to 77.4%, while interassay variability ranged from 56.1 to 79.5%. Mass spectrometry of the standard solution provided with the evaluated ELISA kit did not indicate presence of PCT.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this investigation do not support the use of this ELISA for the detection of PCT in dogs.
Department of Clinical Studies, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
A N K
AN
Floras
M K
MK
Holowaychuk
D C
DC
Hodgins
H S
HS
Marr
A
A
Birkenheuer
S
S
Sharif
A M E
AM
Bersenas
D
D
Bienzle
D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000097:blood; D004285:Dogs / Q000097:blood; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary*; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018805:Sepsis / Q000097:blood / Q000662:veterinary; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000662:veterinary
D015415:Biomarkers; D011498:Protein Precursors; D002116:Calcitonin
Biomarker; Diagnostic test; Dog; Sepsis; Validation