Boxer dogs are prone to a type of heart disease called arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), and veterinary cardiologists at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in the UK are researching clues that may lead to improved diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

“Anything that we can do to improve detection or treatment of the disease is really what we’re after”, said veterinary cardiologist Suzanne Cunningham, one of the researchers. In 2018, a study published on ARVC in human patients offered a clue to further Cunningham’s boxer research. Nearly all the ARVC patients in the study had a type of antibody called anti-DSG2, which patients without ARVC did not have. The study’s senior author, Robert Hamilton, a paediatric cardiologist specialising in ARVC in Ontario, Canada, shared the results with Cunningham for consideration in her boxer research. Read more