Investigation of procalcitonin and beta‐defensin2 in the serum and feces of dogs with acute diarrhea

Abstract

Background Acute diarrhea is a common clinical condition where clinical parameters are used to assess disease severity, course, and prognosis. Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate procalcitonin (PCT) and beta‐defensin2 (Bdef2) as biomarkers for disease severity, course, and prognosis of dogs with acute diarrhea. Methods Dogs with acute diarrhea (enteritis group [EG], n = 35) were compared with 30 healthy controls. The dogs in the EG were scored using the Canine Acute Diarrhea Severity (CADS) index and grouped by bacterial fecal culture results. Procalcitonin and Bdef2 were analyzed in serum and feces. Results Dogs with acute diarrhea showed higher serum PCT concentrations (P < 0.0001) and lower fecal Bdef2 concentrations (P = 0.0001) than unaffected dogs. Serum PCT was moderately and positively related to the extent of disease classified by the CADS score. Dogs with Clostridium perfringens or hemolyzing Escherichia coli as predominant pathogen had increased serum Bdef2 concentrations (P < 0.01). Differentiation between uncomplicated (≤3 days) and complicated (>3 days) disease courses, determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, resulted in a sensitivity of 0.74 and a specificity of 0.69 for serum PCT at a cutoff of 3.9 ng/mL. The serum PCT and fecal Bdef2 quotient resulted in a sensitivity of 0.80 and a specificity of 0.92, with a cutoff of 80.5. Conclusions The results of the present study indicate that PCT and Bdef2 are potential biomarkers that can provide information on the severity, course, and prognosis of acute diarrhea in dogs.

Use of serum procalcitonin (PCT) level and PCT mRNA expression as a potential clinical biomarker in cats with bacterial and viral infections

“…40 In a recent study, prolonged recovery was monitored in dogs with a high PCT level. 22 To the best of our knowledge, no data are available regarding this topic in cats; therefore, we investigated the potential correlation between serum PCT levels measured at the initial admission before the treatment protocol and the mortality rates. The serum PCT levels of cats with bacterial infections that died during the study were higher than those that survived.…”

“…Infectious and non-infectious inflammatory diseases have been reported to result in an increased expression of CALC1, encoding PCT production in dogs. 19,20 Sepsis, 21 bacterial infections 22 and blood parasites 23 increase serum PCT levels. In addition, it has been reported that the PCT level begins to increase 2 h after a lipopolysaccharide injection in dogs, increases significantly over 12 h and returns to baseline after 48 h. 24 To the best of our knowledge, infection-associated PCT production in cats has been documented in a single study, which indicated an increase in serum PCT levels during bacterial infections.…”

Fecal Protein Profile in Eight Dogs Suffering from Acute Uncomplicated Diarrhea before and after Treatment

“…Acute diarrhea is one of the most frequently reported daily complaints in a small animal veterinary clinic. It only rarely reveals a specific etiology, and the clinical presentation is extremely variable, ranging from uncomplicated cases (acute uncomplicated diarrhea—AUD) to life-threatening ones [ 1 ]; consequently, the therapy is also extremely variable and mostly based on symptomatic/supportive (seldomly etiologic) therapy, depending on the severity of the clinical signs and on the presence/absence of comorbidities [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Little is known about what happens in the gastrointestinal lumen/mucosa during acute diarrhea in living subjects [ 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”

“…Among the focal purposes of proteomics, there is the discovery of biomarkers to be applied for diagnostic/monitoring purposes, and more in general for a better understanding of the pathophysiology of determined conditions in specific biological environments. There is a growing interest in the search for new biomarkers useful in the diagnosis, course evaluation, and prognosis of patients with acute diarrhea [ 1 , 5 , 14 , 15 ].…”

Serum/Faecal S100A12, CRP and lactoferrin can be used to distinguish ınfectious and non‐ınfectious canine diarrhoea

“…Diarrhoea is a primary symptom of intestinal disorders and characterized by alterations in faecal fluidity, volume and frequency of defecation (Nixon et al., 2019). The major pathological conditions affecting the intestines are those that cause structural mucosal damage and result in decreased mucosal surface area (Allenspach & Gaschen, 2008; Allenspach et al., 2007), which are caused by infectious (viruses, bacteria and parasites) and non‐infectious (sudden diet change, food intolerance, irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), such as ulcerative colitis and hyperthyroidism) factors (Candellone et al., 2020; Neumann et al., 2022).…”