Serum levels of urokinase-type plasminogen activator in healthy dogs and oncologic canine patients

Vet World Vol.10 August-2017 Article-14

Research Article

Veterinary World, 10(8): 918-923

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2017.918-923

Sofia C. Ramos¹, Augusto J. de Matos^2,3, Joao Niza Ribeiro^4,5, Liliana R. Leite-Martins², Rui R. F. Ferreira^3,6, Ines Viegas¹, and Andreia A. Santos^1,3

1. Department of Veterinary Clinics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University Lusofona of Humanities and Technologies, Campo Grande 376, Lisbon, Portugal.
2. Department of Veterinary Clinics of the Biomedical Sciences Institute of Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto, R. Jorge Viterbo Ferreira no. 228, Porto, Portugal.
3. Animal Science and Study Centre/Food and Agrarian Sciences and Technologies Institute (CECA/ICETA), P. Gomes Teixeira, Portugal.
4. Department of Population Studies, Biomedical Sciences Institute of Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto, R. Jorge Viterbo Ferreira no. 228, Porto, Portugal.
5. Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, R. das Taipas 135, Porto, Portugal.
6. Animal Blood Bank (BSA), R. Jorge Viterbo Ferreira no. 228, Porto, Portugal.

Background and Aim: Urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) has been scarcely studied in veterinary oncology. The aim of this study was to determine the uPA serum concentrations in healthy and oncologic canine patients and to investigate its potential value as a tumor biomarker.

Materials and Methods: Serum uPA concentrations of healthy and oncologic canine patients were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Their relationships with the dogs' health status and tumor characteristics were analyzed through ANOVA and independent t-test.

Results: There were no significant differences between mean serum values (±standard deviation) of healthy dogs (0.19±0.13 ng/ml) and oncologic canine patients (0.22±0.33 ng/ml), or between dogs with benign or malignant tumors, and with or without metastases, although the latter tended to show higher uPA serum levels.

Conclusion: This is the first study describing the uPA serum levels in dogs. Although its results do not support uPA as a tumor biomarker, higher uPA levels in dogs with metastatic neoplasms may reflect the role of the enzyme in tumor progression. Keywords: biomarker, dogs, neoplasms, serum, urokinase plasminogen activator.

Keywords: biomarker, dogs, neoplasms, serum, urokinase plasminogen activator.

How to cite this article: Ramos SC, de Matos AJ, Ribeiro JN, Leite-Martins LR, Ferreira RRF, Viegas I, Santos AA (2017) Serum levels of urokinase-type plasminogen activator in healthy dogs and oncologic canine patients, Veterinary World, 10(8): 918-923.

Received: 03-03-2017 Accepted: 27-06-2017 Published online: 14-08-2017

Corresponding author: Andreia A. Santos E-mail: aasantos81@sapo.pt

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2017.918-923

Copyright: Ramos, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.