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Van Poucke M, Ledeganck L, Guo LT, Shelton GD, Bhatti SFM, Cornelis I, Peelman L. Exonisation of an intronic L1 element in the dystrophin gene associated with X-linked muscular dystrophy in a Border Collie dog. Anim Genet 2024. [PMID: 39152696 DOI: 10.1111/age.13470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2024] [Accepted: 07/31/2024] [Indexed: 08/19/2024]
Abstract
X-linked recessive dystrophinopathies are the most common muscular dystrophies (MDs) in humans and dogs. To date, 20 breed-specific MD-associated variants are described in the canine dystrophin gene (DMD), including one associated with dystrophin-deficient MD in the Border Collie mixed breed. Here, we report the diagnosis and follow-up of mild dystrophin-deficient MD in a 5-month-old male Border Collie, associated with a novel DMD variant. Diagnosis was based on neurological examination and laboratory evaluations including creatine kinase activity, electromyography and muscle biopsies with immunofluorescent staining. Inspection of the Sashimi plots of the RNA-seq data from the affected muscle biopsy led to the discovery of a 162-bp L1 pseudoexon in DMD intron 63, introducing a frameshift and a premature stop codon (NM_001003343.1: c.9271_9272insN[162] p.(Ala3091fs*21)). Reduced DMD mRNA levels were detected for both the non-pseudoexon (50× less) and pseudoexon (3× less) containing transcripts in the affected muscle, compared with the level of the non-pseudoexon containing transcript in a control muscle, resulting in very low dystrophin protein levels and the upregulation of utrophin. Because the variant was only found in the affected dog, not in the healthy mother and grandmother, or in 108 unrelated Border Collies from the Belgian population (46 males and 62 females), it was considered a de novo variant. Although the prognosis for dystrophinopathy is generally regarded as poor, the dog stabilised at the age of 6 months and is still clinically stable at the age of 2 years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Van Poucke
- Department of Veterinary and Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium
| | - Liesbet Ledeganck
- Department of Small Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium
| | - Ling T Guo
- Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
| | - G Diane Shelton
- Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
| | - Sofie F M Bhatti
- Department of Small Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium
| | - Ine Cornelis
- Department of Small Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium
| | - Luc Peelman
- Department of Veterinary and Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium
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2
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Brunetti B, Bacci B, Abbate JM, Tura G, Paciello O, Vaccaro E, Prisco F, Gandini G, Okonji S, Paola AD, Letko A, Drögemüller C, Jagannathan V, Turba ME, Ogundipe TG, Lorenzini L, Rosati M, Psalla D, Leeb T, Drögemüller M. SGCD Missense Variant in a Lagotto Romagnolo Dog with Autosomal Recessively Inherited Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy. Genes (Basel) 2023; 14:1641. [PMID: 37628692 PMCID: PMC10454570 DOI: 10.3390/genes14081641] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2023] [Revised: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 08/12/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
An 8-month-old female Lagotto Romagnolo dog was presented for a 1-month history of an initial severe reluctance to move, rapidly progressing to a marked stiff gait and progressive muscular weakness and evolving to tetraparesis, which persuaded the owner to request euthanasia. A primary muscle pathology was supported by necropsy and histopathological findings. Macroscopically, the muscles were moderately atrophic, except for the diaphragm and the neck muscles, which were markedly thickened. Histologically, all the skeletal muscles examined showed atrophy, hypertrophy, necrosis with calcification of the fibers, and mild fibrosis and inflammation. On immunohistochemistry, all three dystrophin domains and sarcoglycan proteins were absent. On Western blot analysis, no band was present for delta sarcoglycan. We sequenced the genome of the affected dog and compared the data to more than 900 control genomes of different dog breeds. Genetic analysis revealed a homozygous private protein-changing variant in the SGCD gene encoding delta- sarcoglycan in the affected dog. The variant was predicted to induce a SGCD:p.(Leu242Pro) change in the protein. In silico tools predicted the change to be deleterious. Other 770 Lagotto Romagnolo dogs were genotyped for the variant and all found to be homozygous wild type. Based on current knowledge of gene function in other mammalian species, including humans, hamsters, and dogs, we propose the SGCD missense variant as the causative variant of the observed form of muscular dystrophy in the index case. The absence of the variant allele in the Lagotto Romagnolo breeding population indicates a rare allele that has appeared recently.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Brunetti
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40064 Bologna, Italy; (B.B.); (G.T.); (G.G.); (S.O.); (A.d.P.); (T.G.O.); (L.L.)
| | - Barbara Bacci
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40064 Bologna, Italy; (B.B.); (G.T.); (G.G.); (S.O.); (A.d.P.); (T.G.O.); (L.L.)
| | | | - Giorgia Tura
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40064 Bologna, Italy; (B.B.); (G.T.); (G.G.); (S.O.); (A.d.P.); (T.G.O.); (L.L.)
| | - Orlando Paciello
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, University of Naples Federico II, 80137 Naples, Italy; (O.P.); (E.V.); (F.P.)
| | - Emanuela Vaccaro
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, University of Naples Federico II, 80137 Naples, Italy; (O.P.); (E.V.); (F.P.)
| | - Francesco Prisco
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, University of Naples Federico II, 80137 Naples, Italy; (O.P.); (E.V.); (F.P.)
| | - Gualtiero Gandini
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40064 Bologna, Italy; (B.B.); (G.T.); (G.G.); (S.O.); (A.d.P.); (T.G.O.); (L.L.)
| | - Samuel Okonji
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40064 Bologna, Italy; (B.B.); (G.T.); (G.G.); (S.O.); (A.d.P.); (T.G.O.); (L.L.)
| | - Andrea di Paola
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40064 Bologna, Italy; (B.B.); (G.T.); (G.G.); (S.O.); (A.d.P.); (T.G.O.); (L.L.)
| | - Anna Letko
- Institute of Genetics, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3001 Bern, Switzerland; (A.L.); (C.D.); (V.J.); (T.L.); (M.D.)
| | - Cord Drögemüller
- Institute of Genetics, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3001 Bern, Switzerland; (A.L.); (C.D.); (V.J.); (T.L.); (M.D.)
| | - Vidhya Jagannathan
- Institute of Genetics, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3001 Bern, Switzerland; (A.L.); (C.D.); (V.J.); (T.L.); (M.D.)
| | | | - Tolulope Grace Ogundipe
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40064 Bologna, Italy; (B.B.); (G.T.); (G.G.); (S.O.); (A.d.P.); (T.G.O.); (L.L.)
| | - Luca Lorenzini
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40064 Bologna, Italy; (B.B.); (G.T.); (G.G.); (S.O.); (A.d.P.); (T.G.O.); (L.L.)
| | - Marco Rosati
- Section of Clinical & Comparative Neuropathology, Centre for Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet-Muenchen, 80539 Munich, Germany;
| | - Dimitra Psalla
- Laboratory of Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece;
| | - Tosso Leeb
- Institute of Genetics, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3001 Bern, Switzerland; (A.L.); (C.D.); (V.J.); (T.L.); (M.D.)
| | - Michaela Drögemüller
- Institute of Genetics, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3001 Bern, Switzerland; (A.L.); (C.D.); (V.J.); (T.L.); (M.D.)
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3
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Shelton GD, Minor KM, Friedenberg SG, Cullen JN, Guo LT, Mickelson JR. Current Classification of Canine Muscular Dystrophies and Identification of New Variants. Genes (Basel) 2023; 14:1557. [PMID: 37628610 PMCID: PMC10454810 DOI: 10.3390/genes14081557] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2023] [Revised: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 07/27/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The spectrum of canine muscular dystrophies has rapidly grown with the recent identification of several more affected breeds and associated mutations. Defects include those in genes and protein products associated with the sarcolemma (dystrophin deficient X-linked muscular dystrophy and sarcoglycan-deficient limb-girdle muscular dystrophy) and with the extracellular matrix (collagen 6, laminin α2, and α-dystroglycan-deficient congenital muscular dystrophies). With the increasing application of whole genome sequencing and whole exome sequencing, the clinical and pathological spectra associated with specific neuromuscular genetic defects are constantly evolving. In this report, we provide a brief overview of the current status of gene defects reported in canine muscular dystrophies. We also report the causative mutations for novel forms of X-linked muscular dystrophy in Brittany spaniels and in a French bulldog.
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Affiliation(s)
- G. Diane Shelton
- Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA;
| | - Katie M. Minor
- Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA; (K.M.M.); (J.R.M.)
| | - Steven G. Friedenberg
- Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA; (S.G.F.); (J.N.C.)
| | - Jonah N. Cullen
- Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA; (S.G.F.); (J.N.C.)
| | - Ling T. Guo
- Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA;
| | - James R. Mickelson
- Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA; (K.M.M.); (J.R.M.)
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Dystrophin ( DMD) Missense Variant in Cats with Becker-Type Muscular Dystrophy. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24043192. [PMID: 36834603 PMCID: PMC9964367 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24043192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2022] [Revised: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/02/2023] [Indexed: 02/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Muscular dystrophy due to dystrophin deficiency in humans is phenotypically divided into a severe Duchenne and milder Becker type. Dystrophin deficiency has also been described in a few animal species, and few DMD gene variants have been identified in animals. Here, we characterize the clinical, histopathological, and molecular genetic aspects of a family of Maine Coon crossbred cats with clinically mild and slowly progressive muscular dystrophy. Two young adult male littermate cats exhibited abnormal gait and muscular hypertrophy with macroglossia. Serum creatine kinase activities were highly increased. Histopathologically, dystrophic skeletal muscle exhibited marked structural changes including atrophic, hypertrophic, and necrotic muscle fibers. Immunohistochemistry showed irregularly reduced expression of dystrophin but the staining of other muscle proteins such as β- and γ-sarcoglycans as well as desmin was also diminished. Whole genome sequencing of one affected cat and genotyping of the littermate found both to be hemizygous mutant at a single DMD missense variant (c.4186C>T). No other protein-changing variants in candidate genes for muscular dystrophy were detected. In addition, one clinically healthy male littermate was hemizygous wildtype, while the queen and one female littermate were clinically healthy, but heterozygous. The predicted amino acid exchange (p.His1396Tyr) resides in a conserved central rod spectrin domain of dystrophin. Various protein modeling programs did not predict major disruption of the dystrophin protein by this substitution, but the altered charge of the region may still affect protein function. This study represents the first genotype-to-phenotype correlation of Becker-type dystrophin deficiency in companion animals.
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5
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Chey YCJ, Arudkumar J, Aartsma-Rus A, Adikusuma F, Thomas PQ. CRISPR applications for Duchenne muscular dystrophy: From animal models to potential therapies. WIREs Mech Dis 2023; 15:e1580. [PMID: 35909075 PMCID: PMC10078488 DOI: 10.1002/wsbm.1580] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2022] [Revised: 04/28/2022] [Accepted: 06/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
CRISPR gene-editing technology creates precise and permanent modifications to DNA. It has significantly advanced our ability to generate animal disease models for use in biomedical research and also has potential to revolutionize the treatment of genetic disorders. Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a monogenic muscle-wasting disease that could potentially benefit from the development of CRISPR therapy. It is commonly associated with mutations that disrupt the reading frame of the DMD gene that encodes dystrophin, an essential scaffolding protein that stabilizes striated muscles and protects them from contractile-induced damage. CRISPR enables the rapid generation of various animal models harboring mutations that closely simulates the wide variety of mutations observed in DMD patients. These models provide a platform for the testing of sequence-specific interventions like CRISPR therapy that aim to reframe or skip DMD mutations to restore functional dystrophin expression. This article is categorized under: Congenital Diseases > Genetics/Genomics/Epigenetics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu C J Chey
- School of Biomedicine and Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.,Genome Editing Program, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Jayshen Arudkumar
- School of Biomedicine and Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.,Genome Editing Program, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Annemieke Aartsma-Rus
- Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Fatwa Adikusuma
- School of Biomedicine and Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.,Genome Editing Program, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.,CSIRO Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform, Canberra, Australia
| | - Paul Q Thomas
- School of Biomedicine and Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.,Genome Editing Program, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.,South Australian Genome Editing (SAGE), South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
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A Nonsense Variant in the DMD Gene Causes X-Linked Muscular Dystrophy in the Maine Coon Cat. Animals (Basel) 2022; 12:ani12212928. [PMID: 36359052 PMCID: PMC9653713 DOI: 10.3390/ani12212928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2022] [Revised: 10/18/2022] [Accepted: 10/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
(1) Feline dystrophin-deficient muscular dystrophy (ddMD) is a fatal disease characterized by progressive weakness and degeneration of skeletal muscles and is caused by variants in the DMD gene. To date, only two feline causal variants have been identified. This study reports two cases of male Maine coon siblings that presented with muscular hypertrophy, growth retardation, weight loss, and vomiting. (2) Both cats were clinically examined and histopathology and immunofluorescent staining of the affected muscle was performed. DMD mRNA was sequenced to identify putative causal variants. (3) Both cats showed a significant increase in serum creatine kinase activity. Electromyography and histopathological examination of the muscle samples revealed abnormalities consistent with a dystrophic phenotype. Immunohistochemical testing revealed the absence of dystrophin, confirming the diagnosis of dystrophin-deficient muscular dystrophy. mRNA sequencing revealed a nonsense variant in exon 11 of the feline DMD gene, NC_058386.1 (XM_045050794.1): c.1180C > T (p.(Arg394*)), which results in the loss of the majority of the dystrophin protein. Perfect X-linked segregation of the variant was established in the pedigree. (4) ddMD was described for the first time in the Maine coon and the c.1180C>T variant was confirmed as the causal variant.
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Han Q, Fu H, Chu X, Wen R, Zhang M, You T, Fu P, Qin J, Cui T. Research advances in treatment methods and drug development for rare diseases. Front Pharmacol 2022; 13:971541. [PMID: 36313320 PMCID: PMC9597619 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2022.971541] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2022] [Accepted: 09/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
As the incidence of rare diseases increases each year, the total number of rare disease patients worldwide is nearly 400 million. Orphan medications are drugs used to treat rare diseases. Orphan drugs, however, are rare and patients often struggle to utilize them and expensive medications during treatment. Orphan drugs have been the focus of new drug research and development for both domestic and international pharmaceutical companies as a result of the substantial investment being made in the field of rare diseases. Clinical breakthroughs have been made in every field, from traditional antibodies and small molecule drugs to gene therapy, stem cell therapy and small nucleic acid drugs. We here review the therapeutic means of rare diseases and drug development of rare diseases to show the progress of treatment of rare diseases in order to provide a reference for clinical use and new drug development of rare diseases in China.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiaoqiao Han
- School of Pharmacy, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Hengtao Fu
- Hefei Kualai Biomedical Technology Co., Ltd., Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Xiaoyue Chu
- Hefei Kualai Biomedical Technology Co., Ltd., Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Ruixin Wen
- School of Pharmacy, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Miao Zhang
- School of Pharmacy, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Tao You
- The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Peng Fu
- Guoke Saifu (Shenzhen) New Drug Research and Development Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, China
- *Correspondence: Peng Fu, ; Jian Qin, ; Tao Cui,
| | - Jian Qin
- Hefei Anyaohui Health Industry Co., Ltd., Hefei, China
- *Correspondence: Peng Fu, ; Jian Qin, ; Tao Cui,
| | - Tao Cui
- State Key Laboratory of Drug Delivery Technology and Pharmacokinetics, Tianjin Institute of Pharmaceutical Research, Tianjin, China
- Research Unit for Drug Metabolism, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
- *Correspondence: Peng Fu, ; Jian Qin, ; Tao Cui,
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Sakai K, Motegi T, Chambers JK, Uchida K, Nishida H, Shimamura S, Tani H, Shimada T, Furuya M. Dystrophin-deficient muscular dystrophy in a Toy Poodle with a single base pair insertion in exon 45 of the Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene. J Vet Med Sci 2022; 84:502-506. [PMID: 35135937 PMCID: PMC9096033 DOI: 10.1292/jvms.21-0504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
A 10-month-old, intact male Toy Poodle was referred for a postural abnormality. Blood biochemical tests revealed a marked increase in plasma creatine phosphokinase (CPK) concentration. The isoenzyme test showed that 99% of serum CPK consisted of CPK-MM. Histopathological evaluation of muscle biopsy samples confirmed scattered degeneration and necrosis of myofibers. Immunohistochemistry for dystrophin showed an absence of staining in muscle cells. Based on these findings, the dog was diagnosed with dystrophin-deficient muscular dystrophy. Whole genome sequencing using genomic DNA extracted from blood revealed a single base pair insertion in exon 45 of the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) gene. This is the first report on muscular dystrophy in Toy Poodles and identified a novel mutation in the DMD gene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kosei Sakai
- Veterinary Medical Center, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University
| | - Tomoki Motegi
- Department of Veterinary Clinical Pathobiology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo
| | - James Ken Chambers
- Department of Veterinary Pathology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo
| | - Kazuyuki Uchida
- Department of Veterinary Pathology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo
| | - Hidetaka Nishida
- Laboratory of Veterinary Surgery, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University
| | - Shunsuke Shimamura
- Veterinary Medical Center, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University
| | - Hiroyuki Tani
- Laboratory of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University
| | - Terumasa Shimada
- Veterinary Medical Center, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University
| | - Masaru Furuya
- Laboratory of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University
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