Investigation of blood biomarkers for the diagnosis of mild to moderate asthma in horses.
Abstract: Asthma in horses is associated with nonspecific respiratory clinical signs and may be manifested only as exercise intolerance. Its diagnosis relies on bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cytology in the presence of compatible clinical signs. The identification of blood biomarkers for this condition would facilitate diagnosis in the field, because there are regional areas where BAL is not routinely performed in clinical practice. Objective: Identification of blood biomarkers for the diagnosis of asthma in horses. Methods: Fourteen horses with asthma with increased neutrophil numbers in BALF (neutrophilic asthma), 9 healthy control horses, and 10 horses with other pathologic conditions (pathologic controls). Methods: Physical examination, clinical score, hematology, and BALF cytology (in a subset of horses) were performed. Serum concentrations of surfactant protein D (SP-D), haptoglobin, and secretoglobin (SCGB) were measured using commercial ELISA assays. Results: Serum concentration of SP-D > 43 ng/mL, serum concentration of haptoglobin >5730 ng/mL, and serum concentration of SCGB <19 ng/mL allowed differentiation of horses with neutrophilic asthma from horses of the control groups (healthy and pathologic) with sensitivity of 55, 95, and 75%, and specificity of 67, 28, and 60%, respectively. Specificity of 100% and sensitivity of 45% were obtained with the combination of SP-D, haptoglobin, and SCGB at the serum concentrations indicated above. Specificity of 95% and sensitivity of 45% were obtained with the combination of SP-D and SCGB serum concentrations. Conclusions: Haptoglobin, SCGB, and SP-D may be diagnostic aids in horses with clinical signs of lower airway disease and neutrophilic pulmonary inflammation.
© 2019 The Authors. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
Publication Date: 2019-05-16 PubMed ID: 31099114PubMed Central: PMC6639487DOI: 10.1111/jvim.15505Google Scholar: Lookup
The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
- Journal Article
Summary
This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.
The study examines potential methods for diagnosing asthma in horses by checking the levels of certain proteins in their blood, in hopes of creating an easier and more accessible diagnostic method for areas that lack specific medical equipment.
Background
- The research addresses a significant issue in veterinary medicine—the diagnosis of asthma in horses. Typically, this condition presents with nonspecific signs, and at times, the only symptom could be the reduced capacity to exercise.
- The standard diagnostic method is to inspect the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) for cytological anomalies. BALF refers to the fluid obtained from a washout of the bronchoalveolar region. However, it’s not always feasible to perform this procedure, particularly in remote regions.
Objective
- The objective of the study is to identify specific blood biomarkers for diagnosing equine asthma, which would make diagnosis simpler, especially in remote areas where bronchoalveolar lavage may not be an option.
Methodology
- The researchers studied a total of 33 horses. Included in the sample were horses diagnosed with asthma, healthy control horses, and horses with other health conditions.
- They performed clinical examinations, scored each horse’s status, ran hematology tests, and conducted BALF cytology tests for some horses.
- They used enzymatic assays to measure the serum concentrations of three potential biomarkers namely, surfactant protein D (SP-D), haptoglobin, and secretoglobin (SCGB).
Findings
- Through their collected data, researchers established threshold concentrations for each potential biomarker that could differentiate asthmatic horses from healthy horses or those with different disorders. These values include SP-D concentrations above 43 ng/mL, haptoglobin concentrations above 5730 ng/mL, and SCGB concentrations less than 19 ng/mL.
- Each biomarker showed varying degrees of sensitivity and specificity. Sensitivity refers to the proportion of correctly identified positive results; specificity refers to the proportion of correctly identified negative results.
- The combination of all three biomarkers showed a 100% specificity and a sensitivity of 45%. The combination of SP-D and SCGB offered slightly lower levels of specificity and sensitivity at 95% and 45%, respectively.
Conclusions
- The results suggest that these three biomarkers, haptoglobin, SCGB, and SP-D, could potentially be useful tools in diagnosing horses with asthmatic symptoms and neutrophilic pulmonary inflammation.
Cite This Article
APA
Gy C, Leclere M, Vargas A, Grimes C, Lavoie JP.
(2019).
Investigation of blood biomarkers for the diagnosis of mild to moderate asthma in horses.
J Vet Intern Med, 33(4), 1789-1795.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jvim.15505 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Université de Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, Q, Canada.
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Université de Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, Q, Canada.
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Université de Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, Q, Canada.
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Université de Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, Q, Canada.
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Université de Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, Q, Canada.
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Asthma / blood
- Asthma / diagnosis
- Asthma / veterinary
- Biomarkers / blood
- Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / cytology
- Case-Control Studies
- Female
- Haptoglobins / analysis
- Horse Diseases / blood
- Horse Diseases / diagnosis
- Horses
- Male
- Neutrophils
- Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein D / blood
- Secretoglobins / blood
Grant Funding
- Fonds du Centenaire
- Fonds en santu00e9 u00e9quine de l'Universitu00e9 de Montru00e9al
- Zoetis
Conflict of Interest Statement
Authors declare no conflict of interest.
References
This article includes 16 references
- Couëtil LL, Cardwell JM, Gerber V, Lavoie JP, Léguillette R, Richard EA. Inflammatory Airway Disease of Horses--Revised Consensus Statement.. J Vet Intern Med 2016 Mar-Apr;30(2):503-15.
- Lavoie JP. Is the time primed for equine asthma?. Equine Vet Educ 2015;27(5):225‐226.
- Pirie RS, Couëtil LL, Robinson NE, Lavoie JP. Equine asthma: An appropriate, translational and comprehendible terminology?. Equine Vet J 2016 Jul;48(4):403-5.
- Richard EA, Pitel PH, Christmann U, Lekeux P, Fortier G, Pronost S. Serum concentration of surfactant protein D in horses with lower airway inflammation.. Equine Vet J 2012 May;44(3):277-81.
- Bullone M, de Lagarde M, Vargas A, Lavoie JP. Serum Surfactant Protein D and Haptoglobin as Potential Biomarkers for Inflammatory Airway Disease in Horses.. J Vet Intern Med 2015 Nov-Dec;29(6):1707-11.
- Leclere M, Lavoie-Lamoureux A, Lavoie JP. Acute phase proteins in racehorses with inflammatory airway disease.. J Vet Intern Med 2015 May-Jun;29(3):940-5.
- Côté O, Lillie BN, Hayes MA, Clark ME, van den Bosch L, Katavolos P, Viel L, Bienzle D. Multiple secretoglobin 1A1 genes are differentially expressed in horses.. BMC Genomics 2012 Dec 19;13:712.
- Katavolos P, Ackerley CA, Viel L, Clark ME, Wen X, Bienzle D. Clara cell secretory protein is reduced in equine recurrent airway obstruction.. Vet Pathol 2009 Jul;46(4):604-13.
- Ramseyer A, Gaillard C, Burger D, Straub R, Jost U, Boog C, Marti E, Gerber V. Effects of genetic and environmental factors on chronic lower airway disease in horses.. J Vet Intern Med 2007 Jan-Feb;21(1):149-56.
- Jean D, Vrins A, Beauchamp G, Lavoie JP. Evaluation of variations in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in horses with recurrent airway obstruction.. Am J Vet Res 2011 Jun;72(6):838-42.
- Hultén C, Grönlund U, Hirvonen J, Tulamo RM, Suominen MM, Marhaug G, Forsberg M. Dynamics in serum of the inflammatory markers serum amyloid A (SAA), haptoglobin, fibrinogen and alpha2-globulins during induced noninfectious arthritis in the horse.. Equine Vet J 2002 Nov;34(7):699-704.
- Côté O, Clark ME, Viel L, Labbé G, Seah SY, Khan MA, Douda DN, Palaniyar N, Bienzle D. Secretoglobin 1A1 and 1A1A differentially regulate neutrophil reactive oxygen species production, phagocytosis and extracellular trap formation.. PLoS One 2014;9(4):e96217.
- Miskovic Feutz M, Couetil LL, Riley CP, Zhang X, Adamec J, Raskin RE. Secretoglobin and Transferrin Expression in Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid of Horses with Chronic Respiratory Disease.. J Vet Intern Med 2015 Nov-Dec;29(6):1692-9.
- Inoue K, Wang X, Saito J, Tanino Y, Ishida T, Iwaki D, Fujita T, Kimura S, Munakata M. Plasma UGRP1 levels associate with promoter G-112A polymorphism and the severity of asthma.. Allergol Int 2008 Mar;57(1):57-64.
- Laumen E, Doherr MG, Gerber V. Relationship of horse owner assessed respiratory signs index to characteristics of recurrent airway obstruction in two Warmblood families.. Equine Vet J 2010 Mar;42(2):142-8.
- Lavoie-Lamoureux A, Leclere M, Lemos K, Wagner B, Lavoie JP. Markers of systemic inflammation in horses with heaves.. J Vet Intern Med 2012 Nov-Dec;26(6):1419-26.
Citations
This article has been cited 11 times.- Janssen P, Tosi I, Hego A, Maréchal P, Marichal T, Radermecker C. Neutrophil Extracellular Traps Are Found in Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluids of Horses With Severe Asthma and Correlate With Asthma Severity.. Front Immunol 2022;13:921077.
- Simões J, Batista M, Tilley P. The Immune Mechanisms of Severe Equine Asthma-Current Understanding and What Is Missing.. Animals (Basel) 2022 Mar 16;12(6).
- Zeng F, Shen B, Yuan Y, Kong Y, Tan P, Huang Y, Liu Y, Liu S, Zhao B, Wang J. Changes in Acute-Phase Proteins in Plasma during the Periparturient Period of Dairy Goats.. Vet Sci 2021 Dec 8;8(12).
- Lee GKC, Beeler-Marfisi J, Viel L, Piché É, Kang H, Sears W, Bienzle D. Bronchial brush cytology, endobronchial biopsy, and SALSA immunohistochemistry in severe equine asthma.. Vet Pathol 2022 Jan;59(1):100-111.
- Bessonnat A, Hélie P, Grimes C, Lavoie JP. Airway remodeling in horses with mild and moderate asthma.. J Vet Intern Med 2022 Jan;36(1):285-291.
- Herteman N, Mosing M, Waldmann AD, Gerber V, Schoster A. Exercise-induced airflow changes in horses with asthma measured by electrical impedance tomography.. J Vet Intern Med 2021 Sep;35(5):2500-2510.
- Bocking T, Singh B. Light and electron-microscopic localization of CD9 and surfactant protein A and D in normal lungs of the horse.. Can J Vet Res 2021 Jul;85(3):170-176.
- Mainguy-Seers S, Lavoie JP. Glucocorticoid treatment in horses with asthma: A narrative review.. J Vet Intern Med 2021 Jul;35(4):2045-2057.
- Couetil L, Cardwell JM, Leguillette R, Mazan M, Richard E, Bienzle D, Bullone M, Gerber V, Ivester K, Lavoie JP, Martin J, Moran G, Niedźwiedź A, Pusterla N, Swiderski C. Equine Asthma: Current Understanding and Future Directions.. Front Vet Sci 2020;7:450.
- Stucchi L, Alberti E, Stancari G, Conturba B, Zucca E, Ferrucci F. The Relationship between Lung Inflammation and Aerobic Threshold in Standardbred Racehorses with Mild-Moderate Equine Asthma.. Animals (Basel) 2020 Jul 27;10(8).
- Bazzano M, Laghi L, Zhu C, Magi GE, Tesei B, Laus F. Respiratory metabolites in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) can differentiate horses affected by severe equine asthma from healthy horses.. BMC Vet Res 2020 Jul 8;16(1):233.
Use Nutrition Calculator
Check if your horse's diet meets their nutrition requirements with our easy-to-use tool Check your horse's diet with our easy-to-use tool
Talk to a Nutritionist
Discuss your horse's feeding plan with our experts over a free phone consultation Discuss your horse's diet over a phone consultation
Submit Diet Evaluation
Get a customized feeding plan for your horse formulated by our equine nutritionists Get a custom feeding plan formulated by our nutritionists
