The assessment of the disease course is essential to make a prognosis and important part of daily veterinary and human clinical practice. Different parameters are used with different success. IL-6, a pro-inflammatory cytokine, may have some prognostic value which was showed by some human studies. The mechanism why IL-6 is elevated in cases of bad prognosis is still unknown. We investigated the prognostic value of IL-6 in dogs, cats, and cattle.

Twenty-nine dogs, patients of a critical care unit were included in this study. The dogs suffered from different severe life-threatening diseases like pancreatitis or sepsis. IL-6 was measured at first consultation. The patients were treated with disease specific treatment and the clinical course was observed. Finally, clinical outcome and IL-6 concentration were compared.

Eight cats suffering from chronic kidney disease in an advanced stage were treated and the clinical outcome was compared with the IL-6 serum concentration at the time of hospitalization.

In cattle 20 calves suffering from diarrhea were investigated. Here the recovering period was compared with the incoming IL-6 serum concentration. None of these calves died.

IL-6 was measured with species specific ELISA according to manufactures instructions.

The dogs could be differentiated into survivors (20) and non-survivors (9). The IL-6 serum concentration in the group of non-surviving dogs was significantly elevated compared to surviving dogs (p<0.001).

Cats with chronic kidney disease which do not survive the treatment showed significantly higher IL-6 serum concentration compared to surviving cats (p<0.001).

At the beginning of diarrhea, the IL-6 concentration was significantly higher in calves with an extended recovering period compared with those that recovered 7 to 10 days after the onset of diarrhea (p<0.05).

To get information about the outcome of a life-threatening disease can be important to give the owners some advice and to make treatment decisions. IL-6 which is mainly known as pro-inflammatory cytokine and which is elevated in sepsis and inflammatory response syndrome, was successfully assessed as prognostic marker in humans. In our studies, we have proved that IL-6 is also useful in dogs and cats suffering from life threatening inflammatory and non-inflammatory diseases and can give information about the disease outcome. In claves, we could show that the recovering period can also be predicted by IL-6. So, in conclusion, IL-6 seems to be a valuable prognostic marker in different species with different diseases.

Disclosures

No disclosures to report.