Norwegian Forest Cat HCM DNA
Research Project
August 14, 2010 - DNA
Research Update from Dr Kate Meurs
3 Messages below from Dr. Meurs to Donna Lawry (posted with permission from Dr
Meurs):
Message #1
Dear Donna:
Lynne forwarded your email to me. Thank
you so much for your interest in our research!!
In response to your questions, - we do
have a small bit specifically on the ongoing NWFC project on this page:
But you are correct, that it does not have
a recent update on our work so far. I try to put these on our blog:
http://blogs.vetmed.wsu.edu/VCGL/
but I apologize that I have not added thing specifically on your
breed lately! I find that the blog is a great way to send out updates but I
seem to get behind with it!
Specifically though, we have looked at the
Norwegian Forest Cat for the mutations that have previously identified in
Maine Coons and Ragdoll cats and have not found any causative mutations. We
next looked at the entire gene thinking that there might be a mutation in the
same gene but in a different location but we did not find one. Next we
looked at the top 7 genes that are known to cause HCM in human beings but we
did not find any mutations in any of those genes. We have not given up however
and are currently deciding which genes to target next. Unfortunately this is a
slow process. Sometimes we get lucky and find something pretty quickly and
sometimes we need to look at many, many genes before we find anything. This
can take years!!!
I hope that helped? If there are more
specific questions I would be happy to answer them. If you should know of
anyone who does have an affected cat we are always very eager to collect a
blood sample (I have attached a form that you could feel free to distribute).
Thank you so much for your interest in our
program!
Kate Meurs, DVM, PhD"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Message #2
Date: Fri, Aug 13,
2010 12:37 am
"
Dear Donna,
Of
course! Feel free to forward my email!
One
of the most important things we need for a successful study is samples from
affected cats so the more people that know about our study the better! We can
always use additional samples if it is not too stressful to the cats to allow
us to have a sample of course! You have motivated me to update the blog very
soon with information about the NFC project!!
All the best!
Kate "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Date:
Sat, Aug 14, 2010 12:44 am
RE:
HCM in NFC
"
Hi Donna!
Well
– it is really more an idea of how much it costs to keep going since we have
started? Right now we are temporarily paused while we consider what the next
best gene to look at would be and if we can afford to go forward now or if we
have to wait a bit longer.
Every
time we evaluate a gene to determine if it could be the cause of the disease
it costs about $ 5,000-10,000 (depending on how big the gene is)…..we try to
pick the most likely genes to look at first to use money and time as
efficiently as possible. However, it is a slow process—you can look at a lot
of genes before you find the right one! This is a problem since sometimes
breed clubs get very disappointed. They work hard to raise $ 5,000 and we use
it up, and then have to go back and tell them that we did not find anything
and we need additional money to go forward…..it is hard from that
perspective!
The
more samples we have, the better we can advance our current studies!
THANK
YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have
a great weekend!!
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