Background
Babesia canis
infection induces a marked acute phase response (APR) that might be associated with alteration in lipid and lipoprotein metabolism and disease prognosis.
Hypothesis
Dogs with
B. canis
‐induced APR develop dyslipidemia with altered lipoprotein concentration and morphology.
Animals
Twenty‐nine client‐owned dogs with acute
B. canis
infection and 10 clinically healthy control dogs.
Methods
Observational cross‐sectional study. Serum amyloid A (SAA) was measured using ELISA. Cholesterol, phospholipids, and triglycerides were determined biochemically. Lipoproteins were separated using agarose gel electrophoresis. Lipoprotein diameter was assessed by polyacrylamide gradient gel electrophoresis; correlation with ApoA‐1 (radioimmunoassay) and SAA was determined.
Results
Dogs with
B. canis
infection had a marked APR (median SAA, 168.3 μg/mL; range, 98.1‐716.2 μg/mL) compared with controls (3.2 μg/mL, 2.0‐4.2 μg/mL) (
P
< .001). Dogs with
B. canis
infection had significantly lower median cholesterol (4.79 mmol/L, 1.89‐7.64 mmol/L versus 6.15 mmol/L, 4.2‐7.4 mmol/L) (
P
= .02), phospholipid (4.64 mmol/L, 2.6‐6.6 mmol/L versus 5.72 mmol/L, 4.68‐7.0 mmol/L) (
P
= .02), and α‐lipoproteins (77.5%, 27.7%‐93.5% versus 89.2%, 75.1%‐93.5%) (
P
= .04), and higher ApoA‐1 (1.36 U, 0.8‐2.56 U versus 0.95 U, 0.73‐1.54 U) concentrations (
P
= .02). Serum amyloid A correlated with high‐density lipoproteins (HDLs) diameter (rho = .43;
P
= .03) and ApoA‐1 (rho = .63,
P
< .001).
Conclusions and Clinical Importance
Major changes associated with
B. canis
‐induced APR in dogs are related to concentration, composition, and morphology of HDL particles pointing to an altered reverse cholesterol transport. Parallel ApoA‐1 and SAA concentration increase is a unique still unexplained pathophysiological finding.
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