Serum concentration of Galectin-3 in clinically health dogs

• Grant number: 14/18818-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2014
• End date: October 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Clinics and Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Denise Saretta Schwartz
• Grantee: Bruna Bianchini Real
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a proteic biomarker of fibrosis that occurs in cardiac remodeling, when the myocytes are under process of chronic lesion. Thus, recent studies in human medicine, try to unveil its diagnostic and prognostic application in cardiac diseases. In veterinary medicine, there is no publication regarding Gal-3 use as a cardiac biomarker. This is due, in part, because the canine and feline physiological levels of Gal-3 have not been established, hindering the use of this protein as a biomarker in these species. Thereat, the aim of the present study is to establish the serum concentration of Gal-3 in clinically healthy domestic dogs. For this purpose, a transversal prospective observational clinical study will be conducted, including 50 dogs of small breeds, which are predisposed to chronic mitral valve disease, the most common cardiac disease in this specie. Based on the genic homology of Gal-3 of about 85% between dogs and humans, the methodology will be standardized for determining normal values in the studied population with canine and human kits. The definition of normal values for Gal-3 in domestic dogs may help future studies to elucidate this biomarker as a diagnostic and prognostic tool in canine heart disease.