| Update from the AMCA Health Committee--6/23/2011 |
Information for donating to AMCA's Donor
Advised Fund with CHF. This is
the fund we
will use for supporting all research
projects
through CHF, including the ongoing
projects
for cataracts, our future epilepsy
study,
and studies on polyneuropathy
or ChD. A study
on normative thyroid levels was
also funded
from this a year or so ago (we
are still
waiting on results for this).
This fund is
a 501 (c)(3), so any donations
are tax-deductible.
It will be posted on the AMCA
website and
we are also circulating to the
membership
by email. In addition, donations
can be made
online at: https://secure3.convio.net/k9hf/site/Donation2?1400.donation=form1&df_id=1400
Under donation type, you will need to choose
"Donor Advised Fund", and under Choose a Program, select
"Alaskan Malamute Donor Advised Fund".
Any questions, please feel free
to contact
me!
It's been a very busy couple
of months--both
personally and on the Health
Committee--and
between missing an newsletter
deadline and
the July issue being devoted
to the Illustrated
Standard, I am overdue in a report
to you
all. My apologies! I am gleaning
from a few
Facebook posts that some issues
are slightly
unclear to at least some members,
so hope
to provide you all with an update
as to our
activities as well as attempt
to clarify
what I'm perceiving as some misunderstanding.
First, I'd like to describe our
(AMCA's)
relationship with the AKC Canine
Health Foundation.
CHF is instrumental in assisting
parent clubs
in advancing health research
with their breeds.
They help to fund (with parent
club support)
research projects which address
various canine
health concerns. CHF has a scientific
review
board that reviews research proposals,
and
has an extensive network of veterinary
and
canine genetic researchers who
work with
and compete for their funds.
AMCA does have
a long-standing relationship
with CHF, and
has co-sponsored two projects
with CHF--one
(Grant 372) on determining breed-specific
thyroid ranges, and one (Grant
972) on hereditary
cataracts in Northern breeds.
The full report
from Grant 372 on thyroid function
has not
been made available yet, and
we had a recent
summary of the one on hereditary
cataracts
a few months ago. Samples for
the latter
are still being solicited. Additionally,
CHF sends AMCA a list of active
grants which
are in need of funding. This
is ALL active
grants who are in need of funding!
Many of
these do not pertain to our breed,
and many
are multi-breed studies where
it is unclear
what benefit we will receive
from these.
While we have some scientific
background,
our ability to ferret through
all of these
is limited, as are any funds
AMCA has to
contribute to projects we don't
fully understand.
The Health Committee has solicited
the assistance
of Tim O'Brien, an AMCA member
and veterinary
researcher, for his opinions
and insight
as to future opportunities.
Through CHF, we also have a Donor
Advised
Fund. This is a fund located
at CHF which
can be used for breed-specific
projects.
CHF is a non-profit, so donations
made to
this fund are fully tax-deductible.
Until
recently, members (including
myself!) haven't
been aware of the existence of
this fund--however,
we're expecting to make good
use of it in
the months and years to come
as we start
to focus more intently on research
around
health issues in our breed. The
current balance
($2225.69 as of the beginning
of 2011) is
comprised solely of contributions
made as
a result of our club's Purina
Partnership
Program. This is a program whereby
dog breeders/enthusiasts
who feed Purina products sign
up as a member
of their club and Purina donates
$10 to our
fund for every $100 in Purina
weight circles
submitted by members. More information
on
this can be found at: http://purinaproclub.com/Dog/GetConnected/PPCP.
Clearly, to sponsor more research,
we will
need to raise more funds. The
Health Committee
is actively soliciting volunteers
who are
willing to work in areas of fundraising!!!
I will also be posting a donation
form for
this fund on the AMCA Facebook
page as well
as the website, and it will be
in an upcoming
newsletter.
Next, I'd like to update you
on several areas
we have identified as high priority,
and
which we are currently hard at
work on. These
are Chondrodysplasia, Polyneuropathy,
and
Epilepsy. Other issues are likely
to arise,
but these are our current areas
of focus.
CHD: As you all know, samples
from dwarfs
and carriers were sent to MSU
years ago in
the hopes that the researchers
there would
be able to isolate the gene responsible
for
this disease. The work that AMRF
contracted
for was completed, with no gene
found. In
the years since, the research
team (headed
by Dr. Patrick Venta) has continued
to work
with this data in their spare
time, using
old technology--again, with no
results. I
think we are all acquainted with
the disappointment
the years without results have
brought us.
In late fall/early winter, Steve
Anderson
sent out the exciting announcement
that with
their contacts through CHF's
assistance,
Wendy Willhauck and Sandy D'Andrea
had brokered
a collaboration between a new
researcher
Dr. Mark Neff and Dr. Venta whereby
they
would use Dr. Neff's technology
and the samples
in Dr. Venta's possession to
work further
on finding the gene. This work
was to begin
in the spring after Dr. Venta
had finished
some more analyses of his own
on this project.
Last month we were told through
CHF that
Dr. Venta and his research team
have decided
to instead apply for their own
grant through
either the Morris Foundation
or CHF to do
this work by themselves. I have
since been
in contact with Dr. Venta, who
has confirmed
that this is his intention. He
has agreed
to write up for our newsletter
a brief description
of the work he has done thus
far and the
timeline for the next phase of
this project.
He intends to apply for the grant
this summer
and has agreed to keep me regularly
updated
as to the status of the project.
I will immediately
pass along any updates I receive
to the membership.
While we are hopeful that this
process will
result in a test for us, we also
recognize
that other opportunities may
be available
and may present us with those
results more
quickly. In the fall, CHF had
identified
several researchers with interest
and experience
in the area of dwarfism, and
we are currently
contacting them to determine
whether they
have interest in pursuing research
in this
area with our breed. One research
group--headed
by Hannes Lohi in Finland--has
already found
the gene responsible for dwarfism
in Elkhounds.
They have run the blood on Hera
(the dwarf
imported from France) and have
determined
that the gene is not the same
in our breed,
but are willing to attempt to
locate this
gene for us. The CCC committee
is currently
hard at work tracking down all
known living
dwarfs and obtaining blood and
DNA samples
for banking with CHIC/CHF DNA
repository,
and will send these samples on
to Helsinki
and/or other available and interested
researchers.
One difficulty we have faced
until now is
that all of the samples previously
submitted
to MSU are now considered their
property,
and years ago no one ever anticipated
us
being in the position we now
are in--with
no DNA test, and few living dwarfs
with whom
to pursue a test. Fortunately,
technology
has advanced so much that when
Dr. Venta
required 100 samples 15 years
ago, researchers
now are saying that we may find
the gene
with as few as 12. We believe
we have identified
enough living dwarfs to provide
these samples
for us. These are all very recent
developments,
and the situation is progressing
rapidly.
I will be sure to keep the membership
updated
as plans are made.
Polyneuropathy: By now, most
of the membership
has read the fantastic article
put together
by our newsletter staff. We can
tell by the
reaction from members that this
article has
had a profound impact on many--and
is being
re-posted on our website. I reported
a few
months ago that the research
team at the
University of Minnesota who had
identified
the genetic mutation responsible
for PN in
Leonbergers was willing to test
affected
Malamutes to determine if the
mutation in
Leonbergers is found in affected
Malamutes,
and were seeking samples from
affected dogs
with whom to do this. Unfortunately,
the
availability of these is minimal--they
have
received four samples and have
found that
in these dogs the mutation is
not the same.
They have indicated that they
are willing
to pursue finding the mutation
or mutations
(we do not know the complexity
of this genetic
disorder) in our breed as well,
provided
we are able to obtain genetic
samples. This
may be something we pursue as
we are able
to obtain these. A Scandinavian
research
team is also hard at work on
this project,
and does have funding and samples
to pursue
DNA in this disease.
In the interim, we are setting
up a process
by which we can better identify
instances
of this disease and support these
dogs' owners
and families. With the generous
help of a
benefactor, we intend to set
up a program
which provides either cost-sharing
or the
payment of diagnostics for Malamutes
strongly
suspected to be affected with
polyneuropathy.
Vicky MacLean has agreed to help
in setting
up this program, and is enlisting
the assistance
of veterinary schools and neurologists
in
doing so. Hopefully within the
next month
or two, we will be able to provide
more specifics.
In the interim, if you know of
ANY dogs who
may have this disease, please
contact myself,
Vicky MacLean (agillabs@mcn.net),
or Edie
Thomas (windstarmals@charter.net)
for assistance
in getting the dog tested.
Epilepsy: This is a disease that
is also
of high priority for us and our
breed. Unfortunately
it is also a complex one that
promises to
be fairly difficult to address.
Studies in
other breeds have indicated that
this disease
involves multiple different gene
combinations,
which likely vary across breeds.
Unlike CHD
or the long coat gene, where
we will know
one gene is responsible, epilepsy
likely
involves multiple different combinations,
and different types and presentations
of
epilepsy in different families
may have completely
different genetic makeup--all
of which may
also be influenced by outside
factors. It's
been difficult enough to try
to find the
simple recessive gene in CHD,
so epilepsy
promises to be daunting and expensive.
Last
year, the Schipperke breed announced
some
results from a breed-specific
study which
appeared to be very well done.
This drew
our attention, and we have asked
Tim O'Brien
his opinion of doing a breed-specific
study
in Malamutes. We seem to have
a very poor
idea as to what this disease
commonly or
uncommonly presents with, and
how frequent
it is in families. Tim suggests
we work with
AKC-CHF to put together an RFA
to solicit
grant applications from interested
researchers.
This is most likely to attract
the interest
of good research groups whose
proposals will
compete against one another,
which will ensure
we get the best science done.
They will do
the evaluation of the proposals
and critically
evaluate and rank all of them--something
none of us in our club have the
expertise
to do at all. They may also contribute
funds
to help accomplish the research
project.
Tim also has learned that the
technology
involved in these projects is
changing, and
the cost for accomplishing far
more is going
down exponentially. We are likely
to benefit
from a careful approach to a
project which
also accounts for and learns
from what other
breeds and other researchers
have done. In
summary: although it may feel
like we're
not doing anything yet, by waiting
and planning
for several months we are benefiting
greatly
from what other breeds have learned
at far
higher costs.
Future Plans:
We will be doing a mineral assay
at the National.
Elissa Kafka-Kelly and I will
be putting
together a form for owners to
sign up for
this. We will also likely be
providing opportunities
for all owners/dogs to submit
DNA to CHIC/CHF
for future research projects.
I'll be posting
updates on this within the next
few weeks.
Stay tuned! And please don't
hesitate to
contact me with any questions
or ideas you
may have.
Sandi Shrager
AMCA Health Committee Co-Chair |
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