GI19 - Metabolic Profiling of Serum Samples from Cats with Chronic Enteropathy

Abstract: Background
Alterations of the fecal metabolome have previously been described in cats with chronic enteropathy (CE). Characterizing the serum metabolome could provide further information on alterations of metabolic pathways and may identify diagnostic or therapeutic targets.

Hypothesis/Objectives
To characterize the serum metabolome of cats with CE before and after treatment.

Animals
Serum samples from 14 healthy cats and 26 cats with CE (13 cats with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), 13 cats with small cell intestinal lymphoma (SCL)), before and 4 weeks after treatment with corticosteroids and/or chlorambucil.

Methods
Untargeted metabolomic analysis of serum using High Performance Chromatography - Tandem Mass Spectroscopy. Differences between healthy and CE cats were evaluated using the Wilcoxon rank sum test, adjusted using False Discovery Rate and expressed as q-values. Statistical significance was set at q < 0.05.

Results
Metabolomics analysis identified 1,082 named metabolites, of which 130 were significantly different between cats with CE and healthy controls at baseline. Random Forest analysis revealed a predictive accuracy of 85% for differentiating controls from cats with CE. Metabolic pathways found to be significantly altered included polyunsaturated fatty acid, phospholipid, amino acid, and indole metabolism. Several metabolites were found to be significantly different between cats with IBD versus SCL, including 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, malic acid, arginine, and several fatty acids. Metabolic profiles of cats with CE after 4 weeks of treatment were similar to healthy control cats.

Conclusion
FCE cats exhibited disruptions in several metabolic pathways, some differential for IBD and SCL. Metabolic profiles partially recovered following treatment.