Reliability of DNA tests for inherited diseases in dogs

By Carol Beuchat PhD

As the list of available DNA tests for genetic disorders grows ever longer and the number of laboratories offering them multiply, the dog owner is left to evaluate the reliability of both the test and the tester, something that is beyond the ability of the lay person and perhaps even the veterinarian. So it is nice to see the publication of a report that does just that coming out of a Master's thesis by Maaike Fennema from the veterinary school at Utrecht University in The Netherlands.

I think you will find this to be a valuable reference.
Abstract
The change of the ‘’Wet Dieren’’, by the Dutch government, requires the breeders to screen their parental dogs for inherited diseases. Since the breeders and the veterinarians have to apply the DNA tests and they do not have all the knowledge about these test, this study aims to make a list including all the available DNA test on the Dutch market. To know if the offered test are substantiated, they will be evaluated using a set of criteria developed during this project. First, all the DNA test were gathered from the four biggest laboratories for the Dutch market, Laboklin, VetGen, Van Haeringen and Optigen. This resulted in a list containing 120 different diseases. In this article the focus was on cardiovascular and blood diseases, metabolic and immune problems and eye disorders. If the DNA test fulfil the criteria they will be published on the website of ‘Expertisecentrum Genetica Gezelschapsdieren’. The most important criterion was that there was a peer reviewed article available about the mutation they tested on. So for all the DNA tests, articles were searched and reviewed. The research resulted in a list of in total 11 cardiovascular and blood diseases, 23 metabolic and immune problems and 27 eye disorders.
You can access the document as a pdf that includes the appendices here.​

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fennema_2015_reliability_of_dna_tests_for_inherited_diseases.pdf
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