Cerebrospinal fluid creatine kinase as a biomarker in dogs with neurologic disease

While the primary utility of creatine kinase (CK) measurement in clinical practice thus far has been detection of skeletal muscle injury, it has been documented that elevated CK within cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) can similarly serve as a marker of tissue damage within the central nervous system. Furthermore, there has been much interest in the possible value of CSF CK as a prognostic indicator in cases of neurologic injury, and also as a predictor of disease etiology in cases of neurologic dysfunction. While studies in human and veterinary medicine have documented prognostic utility in specific cases, the literature remains somewhat conflicted about the value of CSF (or serum) CK as an etiologic differentiator in cases of neurologic disease. Clarity in this regard has also historically been limited by the lack of known reference intervals for CK in the CSF of veterinary species in health (though a reference interval for CSF CK in healthy dogs has recently been proposed). This study aimed first to document the magnitude of CSF CK in a small group of healthy dogs for use as a control population. Next, CSF CK was measured in a cohort of dogs with various neurologic diseases to investigate whether the magnitude of CK within the CSF could serve as a predictor of the etiologic agent of disease. Secondary investigations included evaluation of other standard CSF analytes – for example, total protein – and their association to CSF CK. No significant difference in CSF CK level was identified between the normal dogs and the neurologic dogs as a whole. Dogs with neurologic signs due to metabolic disease had significantly higher CSF CK levels than all other groups evaluated, though this finding should be interpreted with caution as only two dogs with metabolic disease were present in the study. Additionally, both age and CSF total protein were identified as significant predictors of CSF CK, with older dogs tending to have lower CSF CK and CSF CK tending to increase alongside CSF total protein. Finally, CSF CK was not found to be a significant predictor of serum CK in neurologic dogs. This research raises the possibility that dogs with neurologic disease of metabolic origin may have significantly different levels of CSF CK activity than dogs with other etiologies of neurologic disease. However, further studies – ideally with much larger sample sizes – would be required to confirm these findings and better evaluate what, if any, diagnostic benefit this biomarker may confer in a clinical setting.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

VMS-Veterinary Clinical Medcne

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Hanson, Taylor A.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Foss, Kari
• Rosser, Michael F
• Blair, Benjamin W
• Doodnaught, Graeme

• cerebrospinal
• CSF
• creatine kinase
• CK
• neurologic
• dog

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Taylor Hanson

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129171

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F129171