1 Nov 2021
Researchers at the school are hoping to recruit 400 dogs, which would make it the largest planned study globally and provide vital insight into diagnosis, treatment response and outcomes.
Joshua Silverwood
Job Title
Ecchymosis.
The RVC is calling for owners of dogs with autoimmune diseases to take part in a new piece of research that aims to be the largest ever.
The study intends to recruit 400 dogs, making it the largest planned study of autoimmune diseases in veterinary medicine globally, and provide an important insight into diagnosis, treatment response and outcomes.
The RVC alone sees between 50 and 100 dogs with immune-mediated diseases each year, with many more never being referred for treatment at specialist hospitals. In some cases, treatment causes side effects that can have a negative effect on quality of life.
The new observational survey, named ImmunoRegistry, will gather information about dogs that have been recently diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, following them in real time across a one-year period to find out how they respond to treatment.
Once enrolled, owners and vets will be contacted at regular intervals using emailed questionnaires to ask for detailed updates about their dog’s progress.
Analysis of this information will then be used to answer key questions, including defining the prognosis and risk of relapse for dogs with these diseases, as well as whether some breeds or types of dogs develop more side effects from medications than others.
Barbara Glanemann, lead researcher and senior lecturer in small animal medicine at the RVC, said: “This study will be the first time that the treatment and progress of dogs with autoimmune diseases has been investigated outside universities, providing an essential perspective on the challenges faced by affected dogs and their owners in wider veterinary practice.”
James Swann, postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University, New York, said: “There is an urgent need to optimise the treatment of dogs with autoimmune diseases, and this study represents an important first step in gathering vital information to make clinical recommendations and guide future research projects.”
