Yesterday I finally had the opportunity to speak to Dr Mellersh at the AHT. We discussed at length the Dogenes DNA test & why she personally feels it is not a useful DNA test for screening purposes. She did acknowledge that her predecessor had full confidence in the test but felt that that was before information relating to DNA sequences was available as it is now. Dr Mellersh explained there are elements which scientists feel do not sufficiently satisfy them that areas dentified by Dogenes as highlighting mutations relating to renal function are accurate & that almost all the canine population if tested would show mutations in these areas despite never being affected or ever showing any clinical signs. I did ask how all the Dogenes tests I have personally had done with St Bernards have matched wedge biopsies. It is her opinion that almost all the canine population carry the genes Dogenes identify as being responsible for RD, so physically affected or not, they would show up in the DNA test Dogenes does. Dr Mellersh said in her opinion to remove homozygous tested dogs from the breeding population would effectively cause more harm than good, given that they may never suffer & all the good traits from those dogs would be lost. We spoke about an RD study at Uppsala university in Sweden (I knew about this & have already emailed to see if they have any helpful information for us as a group) Her opinion is that if the chief geneticist at Uppsala was to tell her she had isolated a gene relative to renal function she would have total confidence in her theory, whereas she cannot say the same about Dogenes as she feels the dogenes testing process is flawed. She agreed that to be any use at all to us as a breed we must identify the genetic element that makes a dog physically suffer & work from there. I asked for her advice for breeders in terms of breeding for the future & ensuring we can monitor breeding stock health to avoid what happened to Emmie. She said as a geneticist she felt it was more appropriate that that advice comes from a clinical practitioner & a colleague will provide me with contact details of a specialist trusted by the AHT. I asked about the connection between RD & EU, Dr Mellersh as her colleague Brian McLaughlan has previously told me, says that as they dont yet have a DNA marker for EU, they have no physical evidence as yet to connect the 2 conditions, but would provide me with contact details of a specialist urologist trusted by the AHT so I can ask their opinion. To move forwards she has suggested the following: That I undertake an anonymous survey to establish certain facts about RD diagnosis, age etc etc & to include in that EU questions. To collect DNA samples of physically affected dogs with RD. The AHT can store samples for a later date & are happy to work with other labs who have an interest in & started studies in RD (currently Uppsala but Animal Genetics , an independent lab here in the UK, have also said they are happy to consider a study if enough physically affected samples can be provided) We have always aimed to share information honestly & transparently in this group & this is a summary of my discussion with Dr Mellersh. I am disappointed that I cant tell everyone this DNA test will help us, however, I will never pretend something is something it isnt I hope that the university in Uppsala will be able to give us some updated information. In the meantime I will make contact with the renal & urology specialists. It is still very important that we know about & are able to bank DNA samples from physically affected dogs until we can start to raise the funds required to start a formal study (around £15,000) in the hope that we can identify the gene that makes dogs physically affected. Please bear with me if you have further questions, I am working from my tablet as my iphone is drying out, so dont always see notifications from the tablet. Jota Rey should be able to see if I cannot
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 09:40:33 +0000
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