Procalcitonin Detection in Veterinary Species: Investigation of Commercial ELISA Kits.
Authors: Battaglia Federica, Meucci Valentina, Tognetti Rosalba, Bonelli Francesca, Sgorbini Micaela, Lubas George, Pretti Carlo, Intorre Luigi
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
Procalcitonin (PCT) has proven valuable in human medicine as a biomarker for identifying sepsis origin and severity, yet its clinical application in equine and canine practice remains limited by the absence of validated assays and established reference ranges. Battaglia and colleagues systematically evaluated four commercially available ELISA kits for detecting canine and equine PCT, validating them against species-specific recombinant proteins in both plasma and buffer matrices, and measuring linearity, detection limits, recovery rates, and intra- and inter-assay variability. The canine recombinant PCT ELISA kit demonstrated acceptable performance with coefficient of variation below 20% and a limit of detection of 11 pg/mL, making it suitable for clinical use; conversely, a human-derived canine kit failed validation. For equine applications, the human PCT ELISA kit successfully detected equine PCT with a 56 ng/mL detection limit, whilst a commercially marketed equine-specific kit paradoxically failed to detect its target protein. These findings are significant for practitioners seeking to incorporate PCT into sepsis diagnostics, as they identify which validated assays can reliably support clinical decision-making in dogs and horses—though the equine field remains constrained by the counterintuitive finding that a human assay outperforms the species-specific alternative, highlighting the need for further kit development and establishment of species-appropriate reference intervals before routine clinical implementation.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Procalcitonin cannot yet be reliably used as a clinical diagnostic or prognostic tool in equine or canine practice due to lack of validated assays and established reference ranges
- •If considering PCT testing, the canine recombinant ELISA kit shows more promise than currently available equine-specific kits, though standardization remains incomplete
- •Practitioners should await further development and validation of these assays before incorporating PCT testing into sepsis or infection assessment protocols
Key Findings
- •Canine recombinant PCT ELISA kit showed acceptable performance with intra-assay and inter-assay coefficient of variation <20% and LOD of 11 pg/mL for measuring canine PCT in plasma
- •Human PCT ELISA kit successfully detected equine PCT with LOD of 56 ng/mL, whereas the equine-specific kit failed to detect recombinant equine PCT
- •Current commercial ELISA kits lack proper validation for veterinary species, preventing establishment of reference ranges needed for clinical diagnostic use
- •Species-specific recombinant proteins are essential for proper validation of PCT assays in veterinary medicine