Page 7 - Clinical Connections - Autumn 2019

of RVC research to the care of diabetic pets, including several key milestones, and looks to the future.
answers to these genetic questions. More broadly, diabetes research at the RVC has also been supported by a range of sources, including the Beryl Everts and Robert Luff Animal Welfare Trust, the Winn Feline Foundation,The Rumba Foundation, Boehringer Ingelheim, MSD Animal Health, Nestle Purina Pet Care, the Kennel Club Charitable Trust and the Biotechnology Biological Sciences Research Council.
Our diabetes research involves collaborations with researchers internationally, and draws on clinical and research expertise at the RVC and beyond. The Canine Diabetes Genetics Partnership (caninediabetesgenetics.org), for example, involves participants from a range of fields, including veterinary clinicians, medical doctors, pathologists, geneticists and bioinformaticians.To date, the Partnership has undertaken whole genome analysis in more than 60 dogs to identify diabetes and insulinoma-related genes.
There is a particular focus on
understanding whether diabetes should
be managed differently in different breeds, and the next phase of this research will be
to determine which genes can be targeted with potential therapies to prevent or treat canine diabetes.The most recent feline diabetes work has also taken advantage of whole genome sequencing to understand which genetic variants are unique to the UK Burmese cat, whether they can explain the increased risk of diabetes in this breed, and whether they offer new targets for treatment.
What does the future hold for the next 20 years of diabetes research? Diabetes mellitus is always going to be
a very strong and high-impact research theme at the RVC, and we anticipate that not only will we develop new treatments and diagnostic tests, but that ‘wearable tech’, and smartphone Apps, such as the free RVC Pet Diabetes App, will transform the care of patients. There is also exciting potential for our genomics work to be
translated to other species and to the prevention of other conditions. Already, we are applying our genetics analysis pipelines to breed-associated canine heart disease, lipid disorders and neurological conditions, we are working closely with researchers in human diabetes, and our feline genomics pipeline is being expanded to look
at thyroid disease and urinary stone disease, so the future looks very exciting.
As well as leading to new treatments for diabetes management, and maybe even a screening and prevention programme, another potential outcome of our current diabetes genetics research is the integration of genetics into clinical veterinary practice in ‘real time’. In
the current world of human ‘precision medicine’, where genetic testing allows personalised therapy for each individual, we hope that it will not be long before precision clinical genomics is a reality at the RVC.
2018
The RVC pub- lishes the results of a clinical study with a new type of insulin for cats, as well as an evaluation of the impact on quality of life for owners when diabetes is managed by home glucose monitoring
2014
The first gene to be associated with feline diabetes is published by RVC researchers and work begins on the first feline genome-wide association study in diabetes
2014
The RVC publishes a systematic re- view of diabetic remission in cats as well as a paper describing the development of a single chain insulin analogue for dogs
2017
A paper demonstrating that an obesity- associated gene in Labrador retrievers is not associated with diabetes in the same breed is published
2018
The RVC receives funding to undertake whole genome sequencing to investigate the genetic predisposition to diabetes in Burmese cats
2016
RVC researchers, using the VetCompass database, publish the largest ever UK feline diabetes epidemiology study
2017
A clinical trial
is completed and published describing the use of paserio- tide for medical management of feline hyperso- matotropism
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2014
RVC researchers using the VetCompass database publish the largest ever UK canine diabetes epidemiology study
2015
A landmark publication is produced by RVC research- ers describing the under-rec- ognition of feline hypersoma- totropism as a cause of diabe- tes in the UK cat population
2016
The RVC launches a revolutionary Pet Diabetes App, to help owners to monitor diabetic control in their pets
2017
The Big Pet Diabetes Survey is published by RVC research- ers, describing reasons for euthanasia in diabetic pets
2017
The first paper relating to the genetics of feline hyperso- matotropism is published
2018
The Canine Diabetes Genet- ics Partnership is established by RVC investigators and collaborators to undertake whole genome sequenc- ing and genetic analysis of dogs at high and low risk of diabetes mellitus
2019
Research is ongoing in wide range of academic and industrial collaborators across a variety of canine and feline diabetes topics, including genetics, microbiome, immunology, nutrition and metabolomics
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