Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Microscopic kidney cysts in 1-year-old German shepherd dogs
By Moe, L et al.·Published in Journal of comparative pathology·2000·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Renal microcystic tubular lesions in two 1Year-old dogs - an early sign of hereditary renal cystadenocarcinoma?
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
Two 1-year-old German shepherd mixed-breed dogs were found to have tiny cysts in their kidneys during a health examination. These cysts could be an early sign of a hereditary kidney cancer known as renal cystadenocarcinoma, which their mother had. A 5-year-old German shepherd also had this cancer and showed similar kidney changes. The findings suggest that these young dogs might be at risk for developing kidney issues and could be diagnosed early through kidney biopsies. This information is important for breeders to consider before using these dogs for breeding.
People also search for: German shepherd kidney disease · early signs of kidney cancer in dogs · dog kidney cysts treatment
Abstract
As a part of a study of early renal changes in renal cystadenocarcinoma (RC), a 5-year-old German shepherd dog and two 1-year-old German shepherd mixed-breed dogs were examined. All three animals had bilateral, microscopic renal cysts, and the 5-year-old dog also had RC. Microscopical examination showed papillary hyperplastic tubular epithelial cells lining the inner wall of the renal cysts in all dogs. These cells showed strong reactivity with a monoclonal antibody against a broad-spectrum type of cytokeratin. The dam of the young dogs had suffered from autosomal dominant inherited RC and nodular dermatofibrosis (ND) syndrome. It is likely that the microscopic renal cystic lesions seen in the young dogs represented an early renal change in the RC/ND syndrome. This suggests that the diagnosis of RC can be made on suspected carriers by microscopical examination of renal biopsies as early as 1 year of age, i.e., before the dogs are used for breeding.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11032680/