Post date: Nov 20, 2013 12:31:03 AM
Recently, 5 Golden owners whose dogs were diagnosed as prcd-PRA "affected" by Optigen testing submitted a data packet to Optigen, asking for clarification on their dogs' test results. These Goldens are all over 5 years of age. The oldest (Trevor) is 7. To date, none of these Goldens have exhibited behavioral or clinical symptoms of prcd-PRA.
The prcd-PRA test that is used by Optigen detects a specific disease-associated mutation. This test is used to diagnose prcd-PRA in multiple breeds, where it reliably predicts development of the symptoms associated with prcd-PRA.
Optigen has been responsive in trying to understand why the disease is not following the expected pattern in Goldens. They have started retesting our dogs' samples, which so far seems to confirm that these dogs do in fact have the genetic mutation associated with prcd-PRA. The part no one understands yet is why the dogs haven't started developing symptoms, which would be expected by this point. The working theory is that the prcd-PRA is present, but very "late onset" in the development of symptoms.
Stay tuned!
Katie and Trevor