Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Thyroid cancer runs in Dutch German longhaired pointers family
By Yu, Yun et al.·Published in Veterinary and comparative oncology·2022·Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Familial follicular cell thyroid carcinomas in a large number of Dutch German longhaired pointers.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of Dutch German longhaired pointers were found to have familial thyroid cancer, with 54 dogs diagnosed between the ages of 4.5 and 13.5 years. Most cases were diagnosed before the age of 10, suggesting that this breed may be prone to developing thyroid tumors at a young age. The study indicated that genetics played a significant role in the development of this cancer, particularly due to inbreeding within the breed. Understanding this condition in these dogs could help improve knowledge about thyroid cancer in both dogs and humans.
People also search for: dog thyroid cancer symptoms · German longhaired pointer health issues · thyroid tumor treatment in dogs
Abstract
Thyroid carcinomas (TCs) originating from follicular cells of the thyroid gland occur in both humans and dogs, and they have highly similar histomorphologic patterns. In dogs, TCs have not been extensively investigated, especially concerning the familial origin of TCs. Here, we report familial thyroid follicular cell carcinomas (FCCs) confirmed by histology in 54 Dutch origin German longhaired pointers. From the pedigree, 45 of 54 histopathologically confirmed cases are closely related to a pair of first-half cousins in the past, indicating a familial disease. In addition, genetics contributed more to the thyroid FCC than other factors by an estimated heritability of 0.62 based on pedigree. The age of diagnosis ranged between 4.5 and 13.5 years, and 76% of cases were diagnosed before 10 years of age, implying an early onset of disease. We observed a significant higher pedigree-based inbreeding coefficient in the affected dogs (mean F, 0.23) compared to unaffected dogs (mean F, 0.14), suggesting the contribution of inbreeding to tumour development. The unique occurrence of familial thyroid FCC in this dog population and the large number of affected dogs make this population an important model to identify the genetic basis of familial thyroid FCC in this breed and may contribute to the research into pathogenesis, prevention and treatment in humans.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34464021/