Identification of predictive haematologic markers of immunosuppression in dogs with multicentric lymphoma submitted to chemotherapy

• Grant number: 16/16048-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2017
• End date: November 30, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Áureo Evangelista Santana
• Grantee: Larissa Gomes Silva
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Identification of patients with increased risk of neutropenia through a haematologic profile before chemotherapy can facilitate the patient control and monitoring, as well as and the identification of early signs of sepsis, thus decreasing costs of hospitalization and post-chemotherapy mortality rate. The objective of this study is to identify predictive markers of neutropenia in dogs with multicentric lymphoma treated with chemotherapy. Ten dogs will be selected with histopathologic diagnosis of high-grade multicentric lymphoma (n=10). Blood samples will be collected before treatment (D0) and every seven days thereafter (D7, D14, D21, D28), totalizing five samples. On D0 will be performed: leukogram (for neutrophil, monocyte and lymphocyte estimation), total protein (for globulin value estimation), albumin, C-reactive protein (CRP) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and also the ratios neutrophil/monocyte, neutrophil/lymphocyte, albumin/globulin and CRP/albumin. The assessment of neutropenia will be performed four times (D7, D14, D21 and D28), being classified as "absent" or "present" and into "moderate" (grades 1 and 2) and "severe" (grades 3 and 4), according to the Veterinary cooperative oncology group - common terminology criteria for adverse events (VCOG-CTCAE) (2011). Relationship between markers and neutropenia and its severity will be evaluated using Mann-Whitney test and Chi-squared or Fisher exact test. Correlation between markers will be evaluated through Spearman or Pearson test. It is expected that the study will identify predictive markers of immunosupressive states represented by neutropenia in dogs treated with chemotherapy. Thus, using these markers in the future would give more reliability to the treatment of chemotherapy drugs in dogs. (AU)