Progressive chronic kidney disease (CKD) leading to kidney failure is a common cause of illness and death in dogs, andevidence of kidney damage is frequently present in apparently clinically healthy animals. Due to the insidious nature of thedisease and lack of sensitive and specific non-invasive diagnostic tests, progressive CKD is often unrecognized until extensiveirreversible injury has occurred, when lesions are both severe and irreversible and options for successful therapy are limited. Inboth human and veterinary medicine, diagnosis in late-stage disease results in both poorer quality of life and a decreasedlifespan, and costs associated with treating end-stage disease can be quite high. In addition to the lack of optimal diagnostictests for CKD, there are still large gaps in our knowledge regarding the mechanisms of disease pathogenesis. Furthering ourknowledge of the critical steps during disease progression can help identify both improved biomarkers of disease and effectivetherapies. Early treatment can help slow progression of disease in dogs with CKD; therefore, testing strategies that can betteridentify progressive disease at an early stage would improve a clinician's ability to provide appropriate therapy in a timelyfashion, thereby increase longevity and the quality of life in dogs with CKD. The addition of these tests during serial monitoringmay also improve a clinician's ability to more appropriately adjust the treatment plan for each patient.We propose a multifaceted approach in the evaluation of canine CKD, investigating proteins, RNAs, and cells as bothbiomarkers of kidney damage and as key regulators in disease progression. We intend to obtain comprehensive geneexpression data from well-characterized samples from dogs with CKD as well as investigate specific proteins and RNAs in thesesamples. Ultimately, we hope to identify early and robust markers of CKD progression, better understand the factors involved inCKD, and identify possible targets for novel drug interventions. If these goals are met, dogs with CKD can lead more normal,healthy and happy lives. Our findings might also be applicable to human medicine, improving the outcome of people with kidneydisease and decreasing the associated cost of treatment.
