Fecal and Serum Calprotectin Concentrations in Cats With Chronic Enteropathies Before and During Treatment

Abstract Background Chronic enteropathies (CE) are common in cats. Reliable biomarkers that can distinguish different causes and predict or monitor responses to treatment are currently lacking. Hypothesis/Objectives Evaluate calprotectin concentrations in serum and feces as potential biomarkers in cats with CE. Animals Forty-three cats with either chronic inflammatory enteropathy (CIE; n = 25) or small cell gastrointestinal lymphoma (SCGL; n = 18) and 36 healthy cats were prospectively enrolled. Methods Fecal and serum calprotectin concentrations were determined before and during treatment. Cats with CIE were treated with diet, prednisolone, or diet and prednisolone, and cats with SCGL were treated with prednisolone plus chlorambucil with or without diet. Results Compared to controls, fecal calprotectin concentration was significantly higher in cats with CE (median, ≤ 161 ng/g; range, ≤ 161–2827 vs. median, ≤ 161 ng/g; range, ≤ 161–790; p = 0.01). No significant differences were found in fecal (median ≤ 161 ng/g; range, ≤ 161–1920 vs. median, 189 ng/g; range, ≤ 161–2827; p = 0.3) or serum calprotectin (median, ≤ 1291 mg/L; range, ≤ 1291–15 358 vs. median, ≤ 1291 mg/L; range, ≤ 1291–6422; p = 0.99) between cats with CIE and cats with SCGL. Fecal calprotectin was significantly decreased after treatment in cats with CE (median, ≤ 161 ng/g; range, ≤ 161–1897 vs. median, ≤ 161 ng/g; range, ≤ 161–656; p = 0.02). Conclusions Fecal calprotectin concentration might be a good biomarker for diagnosis and treatment monitoring for a subset of cats with CE. Serum calprotectin concentrations do not seem to be useful for diagnosis or treatment monitoring in cats with CE. Neither fecal nor serum calprotectin concentrations could differentiate cats with CIE from cats with SCGL.