BY: Samantha Bartlett, DVM  

Antech recently announced a new blood test for canine inflammatory bowel disease or chronic enteropathy. The Canine CE-IBD assay uses biomarkers to provide a diagnosis of consistent with CE/IBD or not consistent with CE/IBD. The Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published a study in April 2020 describing the use of biomarkers to diagnose inflammatory disease. 

The test can be used as early as 3-7 days after the dog begins experiencing symptoms, but the ideal time frame is after symptoms have persisted for 3 weeks. Biomarker measurements can be used to create recommendations for further care and diagnostics as well as measure the dog’s response to therapy over time. The biomarkers include gliadin sensitivity, bacterial proliferation, and intestinal inflammation. Measurements obtained for these three biomarkers can not only rule in or rule out IBD, but can help point toward the underlying cause. 

More information about the test can be found at https://www.antechdiagnostics.com/laboratory-diagnostics/core-diagnostics/canine-ibd-assay. The study, “Evaluation of novel serological markers and autoantibodies in dogs with inflammatory bowel disease,” published in the JVIM can be found at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jvim.15761.