Companion animals

Contributing to the Reduction of Canine Hemangiosarcoma Prevalence by Developing and Implementing Genomic Breeding Values

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Abstract

Hemangiosarcoma (HSA) is a cancer arising from endothelial tissue and is the leading cause of cancer-related death in several dog breeds, including Golden Retrievers. Currently, no effective treatments are available to cure HSA, as it is often detected too late by veterinarians and owners. Given that the risk of developing HSA is heritable, we hypothesize that the prediction of genomic breeding values could help to decrease its incidence through the development of informed breeding strategies. Therefore, our aim in this study was to estimate visceral HSA heritability and to implement a single-step genomic evaluation for this trait. Data were provided by the Morris Animal Foundation from the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study (GRLS), including a pedigree with 47,661 individuals, of which 3,006 had genotypes (~400K SNP markers) and 3,041 phenotypic records. Phenotypes involved 391 cases (HSA positive) and 2,653 controls (HSA negative). Genetic parameters of this population were estimated using an animal threshold model fitted with a Monte Carlo Markov Chain Gibbs sampler under a single-step GBLUP approach. The binary status of visceral HSA was divided into three groups based on the age of onset: all animals (scenario 1), all animals aged 7 years and older (scenario 2), and all animals aged 10 years and older (scenario 3). Genomic predictions were calculated using fixed variances. Results showed that scenarios 1, 2, and 3 produced heritability estimates (SE) of 0.27(0.049), 0.28(0.050), and 0.32(0.059), respectively. These values indicate that genetic factors play significant roles in the development of HSA, particularly as dogs age. This is consistent with HSA incidence increasing with age. Validation of models was done via the Likelihood Ratio (LR) method and scenarios 1, 2, and 3 obtained accuracies (SE) of 0.24(0.007), 0.31(0.02), and 0.41(0.02), respectively. The moderate-high heritability observed in hemangiosarcoma suggests the potential for an effective breeding program. The accuracies obtained from scenarios 2 and 3 fall within a moderate range, indicating a good predictive performance. Utilizing genomic selection allows for the calculation of GEBVs for animals lacking phenotypes, which enables increased accuracy of selecting replacement breeders and differentiating risk among siblings' years before phenotypes on relatives can accumulate. This is a crucial benefit in a breeding program for a late-onset disease.

Keywords: 2026

How to Cite:

O’Neill, S., Chen, F., Karlsson, E., Leighton, E., Russenberger, J., Zimmerman, M., Hidalgo, J. & Fragomeni, B., (2026) “Contributing to the Reduction of Canine Hemangiosarcoma Prevalence by Developing and Implementing Genomic Breeding Values”, World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production Digital Archive 2026(1): 2286702. doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/wcgalp.24097

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