Blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as a diagnostic marker in
dogs with chronic enteropathy |
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| Authors: | Anja Becher Jan S Suchodolski Jrg M Steiner Romy M Heilmann |
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| Institution: | Department for Small Animals, Veterinary Teaching Hospital, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany;Gastrointestinal Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX |
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| Abstract: | Few routinely available biomarkers are clinically useful in assessing dogs with chronic enteropathy (CE) and aid in CE subclassification. The diagnostic potential of the blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has not been evaluated in canine CE. We evaluated the NLR in 93 dogs with CE (no steroid treatment for ≥2 wk prior) and tested for an association with clinical, clinicopathologic, and histologic characteristics and also with CE subclassification. NLR was significantly higher in CE dogs with severe clinical disease than dogs with mild clinical disease (p = 0.047). Hypoalbuminemia (p < 0.001), but not hypocobalaminemia, was associated with higher NLRs. NLR was correlated with fecal alpha1-proteinase inhibitor concentrations (ρ = 0.47) and the serum-to-fecal alpha1-proteinase inhibitor ratio (ρ = –0.48; both p < 0.001) but not with serum or fecal inflammatory markers nor with the overall histologic score (all p > 0.05). Dogs with steroid- or other immunosuppressant-responsive (IRE) or nonresponsive enteropathy (NRE) had significantly higher NLRs (median: 7.3) than dogs with food-responsive enteropathy (FRE; median: 3.0; p = 0.003), and a NLR ≥5.5 best distinguished both groups of dogs. No difference in NLR was detected between dogs with IRE and dogs diagnosed with NRE. These findings suggest that leukogram changes (i.e., NLR) could be clinically useful in canine CE, and that neutrophils might play a role in the systemic inflammatory response associated with canine CE. The NLR can be easily assessed on routine hematology and can potentially aid in the subclassification of dogs with CE based on the response to treatment. |
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| Keywords: | canine food-responsive enteropathy inflammation inflammatory bowel disease immunosuppressant-responsive enteropathy steroid-responsive enteropathy stress leukogram |
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