Tumour registry

Tumour registries (TR) provide vital epidemiological insights into cancer risk. Having previously developed a pathology tumour registry (PTR) containing data on around 100,000 canine and feline tumours submitted in one year, we've recently expanded this to include 10 years of data for more than one million tumours.

When dogs and cats are unlucky enough to get tumours, their vets may send samples to a lab to determine the type of tumour they are dealing with and how best to treat it. The Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network (SAVSNET) has collated over one million of these anonymised test results, from across the UK, between 2010 and 2023. 

Utilising technological improvements to enhance sustainability and enable the continued accrual of real-time data, while also adding tools for widespread research access, the resulting PTR is probably the largest of its kind. The data for over one million tumours provides a globally-leading research database to enable the study of longitudinal changes in cancer epidemiology and identify novel risk factors for even rare breeds of dog.

Our work in this area represents a step change in our ability to understand pet animal population cancer risk. The extension of our existing virtual biobank to include cancer specimens will also allow researchers to collect important samples for enhanced genotypic analyses. This will be much more efficient than using conventional sampling approaches. Such database and genomic analyses are necessary prerequisites to more targeted diagnostic and therapeutic evaluations.