Background: No prior study has investigated urinary proteins as potential biomarkers of prostatic disorders in intact male dogs.Hypothesis/
Objectives: We hypothesized that urine from intact male dogs with non-neoplastic prostatic diseases would contain significantly greater electrophoretically resolved protein bands compared with healthy intact and neutered male dogs.Animals: 19 client-owned healthy neutered male dogs (neutered control), 16 client-owned unaffected intact male dogs (intact control), 5 client-owned intact male dogs with clinical signs of non-neoplastic prostatic disease (benign prostatic hyperplasia or prostatitis) confirmed via cytology (intact affected)
Methods: Prospective cohort study. Urine proteins were electrophoretically resolved into low molecular weight (LMW, < 40 kDa), intermediate molecular weight (IMW, 40-66 kDa), high molecular weight (HMW, 66–200 kDa), and very high molecular weight (VHMW, >200 kDa) protein bands. Negative binomial regressions were used to estimate incident rate ratios (95% CI) and to test for significant differences in numbers of protein bands in each molecular weight region between groups.
Results: Urine from intact affected dogs contained significantly more LMW bands (p < 0.001), IMW bands (p < 0.001), HMW bands (p = 0.001), and VHMW bands (p = 0.004) compared to intact controls and significantly more LMW bands (p< 0.001) in intact controls than neutered controls.Conclusions and clinical importance: While further exploration is warranted, increased urine protein bands across all molecular weight categories may serve as biomarkers for prostatic disorders in intact male dogs. These bands may include prostate-specific proteins such as canine prostate-specific esterase (CPSE).
