C-reactive protein as an efficient indicator monitoring and prognosing canine inflammatory diseases

C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute phase protein that may increase in response to various inflammatory conditions or infections in human and animals. It has been suggestive to use CRP levels to diagnose, monitor and prognose canine inflammatory diseases; however, its practical uses remain obscure. We have comparatively demonstrated the use of CRP, total white blood cell (WBC) counts and neutrophil counts to monitor the progression of four canine common disorders, including acute pancreatitis, acute abdomen syndrome, neoplastic diseases and pyometra. A total of 52 cases were included in this study. The CRP concentration, complete blood count and protein profile were measured before and on days 1, 2 of hospitalization, day of discharge and the day of follow-up visit. Statistical analyses indicated that CRP is the only parameter with elevated concentrations significantly differ among different days. None of the clinicopathological variables correlated well with serum CRP concentrations except for visual negative correlation to albumin. Differential efficiencies were observed when using CRP and total WBC counts to monitor the four disorders. The CRP and total WBC counts were equally efficient in monitoring pyometra and neoplastic disease patients, while in acute pancreatitis and acute abdomen syndrome, the use of CRP was clearly advantageous. Overall, CRP is a more sensitive marker showing an evident up-and-down trend and with greater degree of responses than total WBC and neutrophil counts, which enable CRP a better quantitative analysis of disease progression. In conclusion, CRP levels exhibit various degrees of clinical potential to monitor the development and treatment progress of canine diseases with inflammatory components. The inclusion of other inflammatory biomarkers and the study of CRP isoforms warrant further investigation.