The ESR1 gene is associated with risk for canine mammary tumours.

Borge KS, Melin M, Rivera P, Thoresen SI, Webster MT, von Euler H, Lindblad-Toh K, Lingaas F

BMC Vet. Res. 9 (-) 69 [2013-04-10; online 2013-04-10]

The limited within-breed genetic heterogeneity and an enrichment of disease-predisposing alleles have made the dog a very suitable model for the identification of genes associated with risk for specific diseases. Canine mammary cancer is an example of such a disease. However, the underlying inherited risk factors for canine mammary tumours (CMTs) are still largely unknown. In this study, 52 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ten human cancer-associated genes were genotyped in two different datasets in order to identify genes/alleles associated with the development of CMTs. The first dataset consisted of English Springer Spaniel (ESS) CMT cases and controls. ESS is a dog breed known to be at increased risk of developing CMTs. In the second dataset, dogs from breeds known to have a high frequency of CMTs were compared to dogs from breeds with a lower occurrence of these tumours. We found significant associations to CMT for SNPs and haplotypes in the estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) gene in the ESS material (best PBonf = 0.021). A large number of SNPs, among them several SNPs in ESR1, showed significantly different allele frequencies between the high and low risk breed groups (best PBonf = 8.8E-32, best PBPerm = 0.076). The identification of CMT-associated SNPs in ESR1 in two independent datasets suggests that this gene might be involved in CMT development. These findings also support that CMT may serve as a good model for human breast cancer research.

Affiliated researcher

PubMed 23574728

DOI 10.1186/1746-6148-9-69

Crossref 10.1186/1746-6148-9-69

pii: 1746-6148-9-69
pmc: PMC3637093


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