Assistant Professor Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, India WAYANAD, Kerala, India
Abstract: Background Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene polymorphism has been previously demonstrated in the dogs with cardiac disease. But the clinical significance of this finding was not studied in detail. Hypothesis Dogs with cardiac diseases would be predominantly polymorphism positive irrespective of the type of cardiac diseases. Animals Dogs brought to the University Veterinary Hospitals under Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University for the past 2 years were screened for the presence of cardiac diseases. Fifty one apparently healthy dogs and 71 dogs with cardiac disease such as myxomatous mitral valve disease and dilated cardiomyopathy (MMVD and DCM) were randomly selected for the study. Methods Healthy dogs and dogs with cardiac diseases were genotyped for ACE gene polymorphism (rs850683722 SNP). Pearson’s Chi square statistic was performed to assess the association of genotype among healthy and diseased population and also to assess the association of genotype with DCM and MMVD. Results The genotype varied significantly between healthy and diseased population (p-value = 0.008) as per Pearson’s Chi square statistic (9.622). Furthermore, genotype also varied significantly (p = 0.008) with type of cardiac diseases on Pearson’s Chi square statistic (25.422). The homozygous variant genotype (AA) was frequently occurred in dilated cardiomyopathy cases as compared to mitral valve disease. Conclusion and clinical importance Positive association of homozygous variant genotype with DCM, indicated the possibility of involvement of variant genotype in the development and the progression of disease. Hence, dogs with homozygous variant genotype may be excluded from breeding to reduce the occurrence of DCM.
