Shar-Pei dogs shed light on human Fever Syndromes

The gene mutation responsible for the wrinkled skin of Shar-Pei dogs is also linked to a periodic fever disorder, a finding that could have important implications for human health, researchers report.

Shar-Pei dogs have a high prevalence of a periodic fever disorder that is similar to inherited autoinflammatory periodic fever syndromes in humans.

The thick, wrinkled skin of Shar-Pei dogs contains an excess of hyaluronan, most likely because of an over-activation of the hyaluronan synthase 2 (HAS2) gene. The fever disorder in the dogs occurs when overproduction of hyaluronan activates the immune system, according to scientists at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass., and Uppsala University in Sweden.

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