Lymphoma in Border Collies: Genome-Wide Association and Pedigree Analysis

Pamela Xing Yi Soh; Mehar Singh Khatkar; Peter Williamson

doi:10.3390/vetsci10090581

Lymphoma in Border Collies: Genome-Wide Association and Pedigree Analysis

Vet Sci. 2023 Sep 19;10(9):581. doi: 10.3390/vetsci10090581.

Authors

Pamela Xing Yi Soh^{1

2}, Mehar Singh Khatkar^{3

4}, Peter Williamson^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia.
² School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia.
³ Sydney School of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Science, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia.
⁴ School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy, SA 5371, Australia.

Abstract

There has been considerable interest in studying cancer in dogs and its potential as a model system for humans. One area of research has been the search for genetic risk variants in canine lymphoma, which is amongst the most common canine cancers. Previous studies have focused on a limited number of breeds, but none have included Border Collies. The aims of this study were to identify relationships between Border Collie lymphoma cases through an extensive pedigree investigation and to utilise relationship information to conduct genome-wide association study (GWAS) analyses to identify risk regions associated with lymphoma. The expanded pedigree analysis included 83,000 Border Collies, with 71 identified lymphoma cases. The analysis identified affected close relatives, and a common ancestor was identified for 54 cases. For the genomic study, a GWAS was designed to incorporate lymphoma cases, putative "carriers", and controls. A case-control GWAS was also conducted as a comparison. Both analyses showed significant SNPs in regions on chromosomes 18 and 27. Putative top candidate genes from these regions included DLA-79, WNT10B, LMBR1L, KMT2D, and CCNT1.

Keywords: Border Collie; GWAS; breed; cancer; canine; dogs; lymphoma.

Grants and funding

This research was supported in part by funds from the Australian Canine Research Foundation (PW) (University of Sydney code RA399) and donations from the Border Collie Club of New South Wales (University of Sydney code D1350) and the Mac and Jetty lymphoma research fund (University of Sydney code D1312). PXYS was also a recipient of the Australian postgraduate research training program scholarship.