title: Correlation between serum total globulins and gamma globulins and their use to diagnose failure of passive transfer in foals.
abstract: Various assays have been used as an aid to diagnose failure of passive transfer (FPT) of immunoglobulins in neonatal foals, but often lack sensitivity as screening tests, or are time consuming to perform and impractical as confirmatory tests. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether measurement of serum total globulins (TG; i.e. total protein minus albumin) can be used to estimate the electrophoretic gamma globulin (EGG) fraction in hospitalised neonatal foals with suspected FPT. Sample data from 56 foals were evaluated retrospectively. The coefficient of rank correlation was 0.84. The area under the curve of ROC analysis was 0.887, 0.922 and 0.930 for EGG concentrations <2 g/L, < 4 g/L and <8 g/L, respectively. Cut-offs for TG achieved ≥90% sensitivity for detecting EGG <2 g/L, < 4 g/L and <8 g/L, with negative predictive values of >97% and >94%, using prevalence of 15% and 30%, respectively. These results suggest that measurement of TG can be used as a guide to predicting EGG, provided that appropriate cut-off values are selected, and this technique could be a useful initial screening test for FPT in foals.
authors.affiliation: Swiss Institute of Equine Medicine (ISME), Vetsuisse-Faculty, University of Bern and ALP-Haras, Länggassstrasse 124, 3001 Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fouché
authors.affiliation: Swiss Institute of Equine Medicine (ISME), Vetsuisse-Faculty, University of Bern and ALP-Haras, Länggassstrasse 124, 3001 Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Graubner
authors.affiliation: Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory, Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Vetsuisse-Faculty, University of Bern, Länggassstrasse 124, 3001 Bern, Switzerland. Electronic address: judith.howard@vetsuisse.unibe.ch.
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Howard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000276:immunology*; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D006736:Horses / Q000276:immunology*; D007112:Immunity, Maternally-Acquired; D005779:Immunodiffusion / Q000662:veterinary*; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D005719:gamma-Globulins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D007136:Immunoglobulins; D005719:gamma-Globulins
keywords: Globulins; Horse; Immunoglobulins; Serum electrophoresis; Total protein