BIONOTE Webinar on "Cat Inflammation Diagnosis and Biomarker" was successfully held on June 2nd with nearly 600 veterinarians present. Dr. Yoo, director of Dr. Cat animal hospital, appeared as a speaker.

Dr. Yoo emphasized the need for SAA tests for inflammatory screening purposes in cats visiting the hospital with non-specific clinical symptoms such as loss of appetite, weight loss, and depression. SAA (Serum amyloid A) is one of the acute phase proteins (APPs) secreted by the liver by inflammatory stimulation and is a useful inflammatory indicator in cats.

When there are inflammatory stimuli such as tissue injury, infection, and muscle breakdown, monocytes and macrophages are activated, causing the secretion of cytokines such as IL-6. This stimulates the liver to release several APPs such as CRP, SAA, and Haptoglobin, causing systemic inflammatory reactions, including leukocytosis. Since the secretion of APPs precedes the increase in white blood cells, an increase in SAA levels can be observed earlier than the WBC levels in inflammatory situations.

SAA begins to increase within 3 hours of inflammatory stimulation, reaching its peak after 48-72 hours. This biomarker increases in situations such as acute and chronic inflammation, infection, necrosis, injury, and malignant tumors. Therefore, SAA is widely understood as a marker capable of initial diagnosis of inflammation or infection, and is considered a basic test item in cats with clinical symptoms.

It can also be used for monitoring purposes in cats before and after surgery. A good prognosis can be expected if SAA levels reach their peak 2-3 days after surgery and return to normal within 7 days, but if high SAA levels continue to be maintained, it suggests that there is postoperative infection. However, in the case of liver disease, careful interpretation is required with other diagnostic tools, because SAA levels may be low even in inflammatory situations because APPs are not sufficiently produced.

Finally, Dr. Yoo provided easy guidance to the clinical usability through several real-case introductions using SAA in various diseases such as chronic rhinosinusitis, viral infection (herpesvirus, calicivirus), and feline infectious peritonitis (FIP).

BIONOTE released the Vcheck Feline SAA 3.0 kit last year. Vcheck Feline SAA is a biomarker for inflammation diagnosis and monitoring in cats (Learn more). This kit can be quantitatively measured using a fluorescent immunoassay analyzer (Vcheck) in a short time (5 minutes) and can be tested using a small amount of sample (serum, plasma 5 µl).

If you are interested in Vcheck Feline SAA 3.0, please contact your local distributor or send your request to [bionote@bionote.co.kr].