Efficacy of immunoserodiagnostic procedures in the recognition of canine immunologic diseases.

Six immunologic tests were conducted on a large population of dogs with a variety of diseases. The test results were analyzed retrospectively and correlated to the clinical and final pathologic diagnoses. The results indicated that rheumatoid factor and the direct antiglobulin (Coombs) test were both sensitive and specific for the diagnoses of canine rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune hemolytic anemia. The antinuclear antibody test was useful in supporting the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) only when both antibody titer and the staining pattern were taken into consideration. The lupus erythematosus cell test was specific but not sensitive when used to confirm a diagnosis of canine SLE. Cellulose acetate serum electrophoresis and immunoelectrophoretic techniques were each useful in supporting the diagnosis of multiple myeloma. Epizootiologic data collected in this study indicated that dogs with primary immunologic disease had a poor prognosis. A female predisposition was observed in cases of canine autoimmune hemolytic anemia and SLE. Ovariectomy seemed to prevent the development of canine SLE.