Dogs with naturally occurring parvovirus infection may be at risk of developing acute kidney injury due to several risk factors, including severe dehydration, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, and sepsis. Early detection of kidney injury is important, yet challenging, because conventional renal parameters, such as serum creatinine (sCr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN), are insensitive markers for early stages of kidney injury and dysfunction. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate potential kidney injury in dogs with naturally occurring parvoviral infection by comparing standard to novel urinary biomarkers.

Twenty-two dogs with parvoviral infection were prospectively enrolled and compared with eight clinically healthy control dogs. Blood and urine samples were collected at presentation (T₀) in both groups and 24 hours later (T₁) in the patient group. 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 biomarkers for tubular injury. These biomarkers were compared to routine renal functional parameters, including sCr, BUN, urinary protein:creatinine ratio (UPC), and urine specific gravity (USG). Commercial ELISAs validated for the measurement of canine uIgG, uCRP, uRBP, and uNGAL were used. Statistical analysis was performed using non-parametric Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon signed rank tests.

At T₀, dogs with parvovirus infection had significantly higher concentrations of uIgG (p<0.01), uCRP (p<0.0001), uRBP (p<0.001), and uNGAL (p<0.05) compared to healthy dogs. At T₁, only uCRP and uRBP remained significantly higher compared to controls (p<0.0001 and p<0.01, respectively), while concentrations of uIgG decreased significantly from T₀ (p<0.001) in parvovirus infected dogs. In marked contrast, both at T₀ and T₁, sCr was significantly lower in dogs with parvoviral infection (p<0.01 and p<0.001, respectively) compared to healthy dogs, while BUN was not significantly different (p=0.21). Although both USG and UPC were significantly higher in dogs with parvovirus at T₀ (p<0.01 and p<0.001, respectively), only UPC remained significantly higher at T₁ (p<0.05) compared to healthy dogs.

In conclusion, this study shows that dogs with parvoviral infection had acute kidney injury, which manifested both at the glomerular and tubular level, and remained undetected by the routine renal functional markers sCr and BUN. Our results emphasize the added value of novel kidney injury urinary biomarkers to detect and monitor these patients at risk.

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