For questions, please call 616-234-5569 or email
CHCC@vai.org
.
Canine malignant histiocytic sarcoma (MHS), or malignant histiocytosis, is an aggressive disease usually presenting with multiple tumors in several organ systems. There are no effective treatments and prognosis is very poor. This is most commonly seen in Bernese Mountain Dogs (BMDs) but also in other breeds such as Labrador and Golden Retrievers, and Rottweilers. In humans, malignant histiocytosis is also a devastating disease, with a very poor prognosis when presenting as disseminated disease. It is a rare disorder, constituting <1% of lymphomas other than non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, making its study, and thus, identification of effective treatments very challenging. However, it shares all the major features of canine MHS, making it an excellent disorder to study in this initiative, with potential benefit to both dogs and humans.
A team led by Dr. Vilma Yuzbasiyan-Gurkan 
at Michigan State University (MSU) has been working over the last 3 years with the Berner Garde , a BMD owner group. They have established, and continue to expand, the BMD DNA and Tumor Repository at MSU in anticipation of genome wide association, transcriptome profiling and other studies, which will be undertaken in the current project.
