Scientists May Have Stopped a Form of Inherited Blindness in Dogs

Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) is an inherited disorder that causes certain dogs to go blind Researchers in England have discovered the gene responsible for PRA, and created a test to alert breeders It's hope that the test could eventually eliminate the disease among English Shepherd Dogs MONDAY, July 22, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- In her youth, Shola, an English Shepherd Dog, was a member of the Edale Mountain Rescue Team, a corps of U.K. pooches charged with helping hurt and stranded hikers.

But Shola was retired as part of the Rescue Team after a rare genetic disease affecting dogs, called progressive retinal atrophy (PRA), robbed her of her sight. It's too late for Shola, but new research has led to a gene test that could prevent the disease from ever being passed down to puppies -- perhaps someday eliminating PRA from dog populations for good. “Once the dog’s eyesight starts to fail, there’s no treatment – it will end up totally blind,” explained study first author , a veterinary researcher at the University of Cambridge.

Often an owner may not even realize their dog has PRA until middle-age, long after puppy breeding may have occurred. However, “now we have a DNA test, there’s no reason why another English Shepherd Dog ever needs to be born with this form of progressive retinal atrophy – it gives breeders a way of totally eliminating the disease," Stanbury said in a Cambridge news release. The key was pinpointing which gene or genes led to the vision-ro.