Feline-specific serum total IgE quantitation in normal, asthmatic and parasitized cats

Immunoglobulin E (IgE) plays an important role in defense against parasitic infections as well as allergy. Knowledge of serum total IgE concentrations may have value in diagnosis and prognostication of various disorders; however, to date, no studies have reported feline serum total IgE concentrations. We hypothesize that serum total IgE concentrations will be greater in spontaneously parasitized and asthmatic cats compared to healthy pet cats. Healthy (n = 10), parasitized (10) and asthmatic cats (eight) had measurement of serum total IgE by ELISA. Data were analyzed using a t-test with P < 0.05 considered significant. Serum total IgE was higher in parasitized (mean ± SEM, 328.4 ± 123.8 μg/ml; P < 0.028) and asthmatic cats (85.5 ± 19.5 μg/ml; P < 0.047) compared to healthy cats (45.9 ± 19.6 μg/ml). However, serum total IgE had poor discriminatory capability between diseased and healthy cats. In conclusion, this assay can detect small quantities of feline serum total IgE, which may be beneficial in future studies of parasitism or allergic disease.