Important New Requests for Tissues for Cancer Studies

1) Dr. Matthew Breen, of the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University, and Dr. Jaime Modiano, of the AMC Cancer Center, and the Cancer Center at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center,  have recently requested lymphoma tissue from Briards. This tissue needs to be from the biopsy done to diagnose the lymphoma. Two different types of tissue samples are needed:

   Fresh tissue, placed in a sterile jar and kept chilled and shipped overnight

   Fresh tissue that is then fixed in formalin

   10-20 ml of blood is also needed

2) Dr. Breen has recently requested fibrosarcomas and hemangioperisarcomas or other tissue classified as a soft sarcoma. Since Briards have just recently been added to the soft sarcoma studies, we will be using the consent form designed for Flat Coated Retrievers and Bernese Mountain Dogs. Note that the form requires the previous approval of the Principal Investigator if your dog is not one of these breeds. Stephanie Katz is acting as liaison for this project and can get immediate approval for inclusion in this study.

The interesting news is that tissue which has been fixed in formalin is kept by the pathology labs to which your vet sent the tissue. They will keep this sample for two years, sometimes longer, so if your dog was diagnosed a while ago, the tissue can still be used for this research. The dog can not have been treated in any way at the time of the biopsy for this research.

If  your dog has a new lymphoma, fibrosarcoma  or hemangiopericytoma, or another soft sarcoma diagnosis (such as  hemangiosarcoma , histiocytic sarcoma or malignant histiocytosis) contact the BMT Research Liaison Stephanie S. Katz @ 313 368-3123 or e-mail to jsskatz@aol.com and she can help you with the information you will need for your Vet to submit the sample and to send you the consent forms. Again, since Briards are not specifically named in this research, prior approval must obtained. Stephanie can assist you with what you need to do, per their request. Your Vet can also contact Dr. Breen’s Lab through his Lab manager at Tessa Breen@ncsu.edu at North Carolina State University.

During the short time the Briard Medical Trust has been in operation, we have been able to establish excellent relationships with the researchers. We can contact them with newly diagnosed  disease and they will help us identify the researcher and lab currently studying that disease. This sounds very simple, but it is truly a remarkable gift to our dogs.

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