Assessment of acute kidney injury in canine parvovirus infection : comparison of kidney injury biomarkers with routine renal functional parameters

Abstract

Dogs with naturally occurring canine parvovirus (CPV) infection are at risk of developing acute kidney injury (AKI) due to several factors, including severe dehydration, hypotension and sepsis. Serum creatinine (sCr) and serum urea are insensitive markers for the assessment of early kidney injury. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate potential kidney injury in dogs with CPV infection using both routine renal functional parameters and several kidney injury biomarkers.

Twenty-two dogs with CPV infection were prospectively enrolled and compared with eight clinically healthy control dogs. Urinary immunoglobulin G (uIgG) and C-reactive protein (uCRP) were measured to document glomerular injury, whereas urinary retinol-binding protein (uRBP) and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL) served as markers for tubular injury. These biomarkers were compared to routine renal functional parameters, including sCr, serum urea, urinary protein:creatinine ratio (UPC) and urine specific gravity (USG). Dogs with CPV infection had significantly higher concentrations of uIgG, uCRP, uRBP and uNGAL compared to healthy dogs. In contrast, sCr was significantly lower in dogs with CPV infection compared to controls, while serum urea was not significantly different. UPC and USG were both significantly higher in CPV-infected dogs. This study demonstrated that dogs with CPV infection had evidence of AKI, which remained undetected by the routine functional markers sCr and serum urea, but was revealed by UPC, uIgG, uCRP, uRBP and uNGAL. These results emphasize the added value of novel urinary kidney injury biomarkers to detect canine patients at risk of developing AKI.