Canine CRP – Adding inflammatory assessment to routine health screening panels

Added insight with CRP-testing in dogs

Routine laboratory testing plays an important role in assessing the health of dogs. Haematology and clinical chemistry panels provide valuable information about blood cells, organ function and metabolic status. However, these parameters do not always provide a clear indication of whether systemic inflammation is present.

Including canine C-reactive protein (CRP) in routine health screening panels adds a complementary measure of inflammation, helping veterinarians obtain a more comprehensive picture of a dog's health. As a sensitive and dynamic inflammatory marker,^1-3 CRP can provide additional information alongside established laboratory parameters and support decisions about further clinical evaluation.

CRP provides a rapid and dynamic indication of inflammation

CRP is considered a major positive acute-phase protein in dogs. In response to inflammatory stimulation, concentrations can increase rapidly, with peak concentrations typically observed within 24–48 hours.^1-3 Concentrations subsequently decrease as the inflammatory stimulus resolves. This rapid and dynamic response makes CRP useful not only for detecting systemic inflammation, but also for monitoring changes in inflammatory activity over time.^1-3

Why include canine CRP in routine health screening panels?

CRP can provide information that may not be apparent from routine laboratory parameters alone. Normal or only mildly altered haematological or clinical chemistry panel results do not necessarily exclude the presence of an inflammatory response. Including CRP in a test panel therefore complements traditional laboratory parameters by adding a more direct assessment of current systemic inflammatory activity. Rather than identifying a specific disease, an elevated CRP concentration signals the presence of an inflammatory response that may warrant further clinical investigation.⁴

From stand alone test to routine clinical chemistry panels

As the clinical value of canine CRP has become better established, its use has expanded beyond testing dogs with suspected inflammatory conditions. CRP is increasingly being incorporated into routine canine clinical chemistry panels, adding information about the inflammatory status alongside traditional measures of organ function and metabolic health.

Canine CRP in panels enables individual reference points and detection of conditions without obvious clinical signs

Including CRP in broader panels also offers the possibility of establishing a baseline when a dog is healthy. A baseline CRP concentration can provide a useful reference point against which future results can be compared. As CRP responds dynamically to changes in inflammatory activity, serial measurements can provide considerably more information than a single positive or negative result and can support assessment of changes in inflammatory activity and response to treatment.⁵

Systemic inflammation may also be associated with conditions that are not yet accompanied by obvious clinical signs. Including CRP in a health screening panel can help identify otherwise unrecognised inflammatory activity and provide an additional signal that further clinical evaluation may be appropriate. Because CRP is a non-specific marker, an elevated concentration does not identify the underlying cause, but can help direct attention towards conditions associated with systemic inflammation.¹

Broadening the laboratory picture to include inflammatory assessments

Including canine CRP in routine clinical chemistry panels can provide veterinarians with a more comprehensive laboratory picture by adding assessment of systemic inflammatory activity to traditional measures of organ function and metabolic health. It also provides the opportunity to establish an individual baseline, monitor changes in inflammatory activity over time and use CRP as an additional indicator when further diagnostic investigation may be warranted.¹

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References

1. Pepys, et al. J Clin Invest. 2003; 111(12): 1805-1812

2. Eckershall, et al. Vet J. 2010; 185:23-27

3. Vigushin et al. J. Clin. Invest. 1993; 91: 1351-1357

4. Ceron et al. Vet Clin Pathol. 2005; 34:85-99

5. Malin et al. Animals. 2022; 12: 2888

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