About IRIS
2005 IRIS Award Winner
Andrea Zatelli DMV
Clinica Veterinaria Pirani, Reggio Emilia, Italy
Reggio Emilia 09/06/2005
I am very honoured for having been elected winner of the IRIS Award, 2005. This prize was given to me for the research conducted in the area of early diagnosis of kidney disease. The use of urinary proteins as biomarkers for detection of kidney disease is well known in human beings and, at present, we have evidence that in dogs some glomerular and tubular proteins are related to renal histopathological findings. Early detection of nephropathy assumes a central role in some early stages of renal diseases (IRIS CKD stages 1 and 2). These animals generally do not exhibit clinical signs and potentially may benefit from a treatment to slow down the progression of the disease.
A qualitative evaluation of urinary proteins in all patients with a persistent abnormal protein loss (UPC > 0.5) can provide useful information in localization of renal damage. With this work it was shown for the first time that the qualitative assessment of proteinuria with SDS-AGE shows a high sensitivity (100%) in detection of glomerular and tubulointerstitial damage. SDS-AGE identification of protein bands in the region of 12.000 and/or 15.000 Daltons is strongly related to the severity of damage of the tubulointerstitial compartment (sensitivity 100%; specificity 100%). SDS-AGE as a screening test for early detection of glomerular disease (identification of protein band in area of 155.000 Daltons) should be performed in all urine samples of dogs with 0.5 < UPC < 1. On the basis of these results, I believe that the diagnostic work-up of nephropathic dogs could be improved by the qualitative evaluation of proteinuria.
Abstracts
Echo-assisted percutaneous renal biopsy in dogs. A retrospective study of 229 cases. (PDF, 4 kB)
Glomerular lesions in dogs infected with Leishmania organisms. (PDF, 4 kB)
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