Canine idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis : improvement of the phenotype characterization and search for biomarkers and for etiologic agents | La fibrose pulmonaire idiopathique canine : amélioration de la caractérisation clinique, recherche de biomarqueurs et d'agents étiologiques
2016
Roels, Elodie | Clercx, Cécile | Mc Entee, Kathleen
Canine idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (CIPF) is a progressive parenchymal lung disease of unknown origin, mainly described in old-aged West Highland white terriers (WHWTs). It is characterized by exercise intolerance, cough and dyspnoea/tachypnea with a progressive deterioration until death from respiratory insufficiency. CIPF shares clinical features with human idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), while tomodensitometric and histopathological findings do not appear to be exactly the same. Over the past 10 years, several studies have been performed to improve our knowledge about CIPF. However, this disease is still misunderstood and clinicians are dealing with several challenges including the absence of clinical or biological markers for estimating the presence, severity or progression of the disease and related comorbidities such as pulmonary hypertension, the absence of etiologic agent, and the absence of targeted therapy. Consequently, the aims of the present project were (1) to investigate whether high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the lungs obtained under sedation can be used for the diagnosis and for the follow-up of the disease, (2) to study a new echocardiographic parameter for the diagnosis of precapillary pulmonary hypertension induced by CIPF, (3) to study the potential roles of 2 chemokines of interest, CCL2 and CXCL8, as biomarkers of fibrosis and as actors in the pathogenesis of the disease, (4) to determine breed variation of basal blood concentrations of the same chemokines, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and serotonin, and (5) to search for the presence of herpesvirus as a possible etiologic agent.
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