Sessions

Chronic inflammatory enteropathy (CIE) comprises a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by persistent or recurrent gastrointestinal clinical signs, which may be accompanied by varying degrees of intestinal mucosal inflammation. Its pathogenesis is considered multifactorial and involves interactions among immune regulation, environmental factors, genetic susceptibility, diet and the intestinal microbiota. Common clinical signs include diarrhoea, vomiting, altered appetite and weight loss, depending on the gastrointestinal segments involved and the severity of the disease. CIE is diagnosed after the exclusion of extraintestinal and other gastrointestinal disorders that could account for the clinical signs. Clinically relevant subtypes are commonly classified according to treatment response and include food-responsive enteropathy (FRE) and immunosuppressant-responsive enteropathy (IRE).

The aim of this study was to explore the relative expression patterns of selected immune- and inflammation-associated proteins in dogs with different CIE phenotypes. Plasma and duodenal biopsy samples were evaluated to investigate whether the profiles differed between dogs with FRE, dogs with IRE and healthy controls.

Samples were obtained from 17 dogs examined at the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest. Eight dogs were diagnosed with FRE, five with IRE and four purpose-bred Beagles who served as healthy controls. The study population was heterogeneous with respect to age, sex, breed, body weight and severity of clinical signs. Before laboratory analysis, the samples were combined into five plasma pools and three duodenal tissue pools. The resulting relative signal profiles were evaluated descriptively after background correction and normalization.

Differences in immune-related profiles were observed among the study groups and between the two biological compartments. The findings suggested that FRE and IRE may be associated with partly distinct systemic and intestinal mucosal patterns. However, because the samples were pooled before analysis and the investigation was exploratory, variation among individual dogs and statistical significance could not be assessed.

These preliminary findings provide a basis for further investigation of potential biomarkers and disease-associated immune pathways in canine CIE. Validation in larger, independent cohorts using individual samples and quantitative analytical methods is required to determine the reproducibility and clinical relevance of the observed patterns.