Fecal acute phase proteins in cats with chronic enteropathies.

BACKGROUND: Chronic enteropathies (CE) are common in cats and reliable biomarkers that can distinguish different causes and predict or monitor response to treatment are currently lacking. HYPOTHESIS: To evaluate certain acute phase proteins in feces that could potentially be used as biomarkers in cats with CE. ANIMALS: Twenty-eight cats with either inflammatory bowel disease (IBD; n = 13), food-responsive enteropathy (FRE; n = 3) or small cell gastrointestinal lymphoma (SCGL; n = 12) and 29 healthy control cats were prospectively enrolled. METHODS: Fecal concentrations of haptoglobin, alpha-1-acid-glycoprotein (AGP), pancreatitis-associated protein-1 (PAP-1), ceruloplasmin, and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured using Spatial Proximity Analyte Reagent Capture Luminescence (SPARCL) immunoassays before and after initiation of treatment. Cats were treated with diet and/or prednisolone (IBD cats), plus chlorambucil (SCGL cats). RESULTS: Compared with controls, median fecal AGP concentrations were significantly lower (25.1 vs 1.8 µg/g; P = .003) and median fecal haptoglobin (0.17 vs 0.5 µg/g), PAP-1 (0.04 vs 0.4 µg/g) and ceruloplasmin (0.15 vs 4.2 µg/g) concentrations were significantly higher (P < .001) in cats with CE. Median fecal AGP concentrations were significantly lower (P = .01) in cats with IBD and FRE (0.6 µg/g) compared with cats with SCGL (10.75 µg/g). A significant reduction was found in CE cats after treatment for median fecal ceruloplasmin concentrations (6.36 vs 1.16 µg/g; P = .04). CONCLUSIONS: Fecal AGP concentration shows promise to differentiate cats with SCGL from cats with IBD and FRE. Fecal ceruloplasmin concentrations may be useful to objectively monitor response to treatment in cats with CE.

Biomarkers of drug-induced skeletal muscle injury in the rat: troponin I and myoglobin.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the utility of fast-twitch skeletal muscle troponin I (fsTnI) and urinary myoglobin (uMB) as biomarkers of skeletal muscle injury in 8-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats. fsTnI and uMB were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and compared with standard clinical assays including creatine kinase, aldolase, aspartate aminotransferase, and histopathological assessments. Detectable levels of uMB were normalized to urinary creatinine to control for differences in renal function. Seven compounds, including those with toxic effects on skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, or liver, were evaluated. fsTnI was typically nondetectable (< 5.9 ng/ml serum) in vehicle-treated female and male rats but increased in a dose-dependent manner to at least 300 ng/ml in cerivastatin-induced severe fast-twitch specific myotoxicity. Minimal myopathy induced by investigational compounds BMS-600149 and BMS-687453 increased serum fsTnI to about 30-50 ng/ml, suggesting a reasonable dynamic range for detecting mild to severe skeletal muscle toxicity. In direct contrast, fsTnI was only marginally increased relative to population control values in rats treated with triamcinolone acetonide, which produces muscle atrophy or the cardiotoxins isoproterenol and CoCl2. uMB was typically nondetectable (< 1.6 ng/ml urine) in vehicle-treated female and male rats but increased to approximately 140, 300, and 30 ng/mg creatinine in rats treated with cerivastatin, BMS-687453, and triamcinolone acetonide, respectively. Cardiotoxicity also increased uMB in rats treated with isoproterenol and CoCl2 with urine concentrations ranging from 20 to 30 ng/mg creatinine. Severe hepatotoxicity (coumarin) did not significantly affect serum fsTnI or uMB levels. Collectively, these data suggest that fsTnI is specific for skeletal muscle toxicity, whereas uMB is nonspecific, increasing with skeletal muscle and cardiac toxicity. Accordingly, the complement of fsTnI and uMB, in conjunction with standard clinical assays may comprise a useful diagnostic panel for assessing drug-induced myopathy in rats.

The pathway-selective estrogen receptor ligand WAY-169916 displays differential activity in ischemia-reperfusion injury models.

We previously reported on the development of a pathway-selective estrogen receptor (ER) ligand, WAY-169916, that has ER-dependent antiinflammatory activity and is devoid of classic ER transcriptional activity. In the current study, WAY-169916 and 17beta-estradiol (17beta-E2) were evaluated for protective activity in models of cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury. In rats subjected to cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury by occlusion of the left coronary artery, infarct size relative to the area at risk in the left ventricle was significantly attenuated by a single dose of 17beta-E2 (20 microg/kg, SC), and WAY-169916 administered SC (10 mg/kg) or IV (1 mg/kg) during the ischemia phase. In isolated hearts perfused on a Langendorff apparatus and subjected to global ischemia and reperfusion, 17beta-E2 and WAY-169916 both had direct cardioprotective activity when perfused at 1 microM but their effects varied between different end points. Perfusion with 17beta-E2 only improved recovery of left ventricle-developed pressure. Perfusion with WAY-169916 attenuated the elevation in perfusion pressure, diastolic pressure, and release of creatine kinase after ischemia. In contrast to 17alpha-ethinylestradiol, WAY-169916 had no classic estrogen effects on uterine weight or total serum cholesterol in rats treated for 4 days. The data demonstrate that the pathway-selective ER ligand WAY-169916 displays differential activity in vivo on different cardiovascular end points.