Dogs to unravel human diseases

Dogs are more than man’s best friends; they can help us unravelling the genetic of diseases such as cancer, epilepsy, cardiovascular troubles or inflammatory disorders as diabetes or thyroid unbalance. Living in the same environment human and dogs are suffering from the same complex diseases but the genetic complexity is lower in dogs. During 4 years twenty veterinary schools from 12 countries spread across Europe will work together to collect 10.000 DNA samples from purebred dogs healthy or affected by similar diseases as human.

The analysis of the genome of affected dogs compared to healthy ones of the same breed will lead to the identification of genes implied in the mechanisms of these diseases. This project will first generate genetic markers¹ for dog diseases and help to reduce the high level of inherited disease in purebred dogs. Beside the identification of genes implied in disease development will help to understand the mechanisms and pathways of the pathology. Human medicine will ultimately benefit from these results.

¹ Genetic markers: a specific DNA sequences lying on a chromosome so close to a gene that the marker and the gene are inherited together associated with the development of diseases.