Canine mammary tumours (CMT) are the most common neoplasia in unspayed female dogs. There are similarities between malignant canine mammary tumors and human breast cancer and therefore canine mammary tumours could potentially be used as a naturally occurring model for the human disease. As in women, dogs develop mammary tumours with increasing age, rarely before 5 years of age and with a median age of occurrence of 10–11 years. Our group and collaborators have identified several candidate genes associated with canine mammary tumours in English Springer Spaniels, for example the well known human breast cancer susceptibility genes ESR1, BRCA1 & BRCA2 as well as CDK5RAP2, a gene involved in cell cycle regulation. We are now looking at more breeds and are trying to find both predisposing risk factors as well as mutations arising in the tumours.
We are continuously looking for more samples, so if you have a dog with a classified mammary tumour and would like to contribute to this research, please contact us for more information about how to submit a sample.