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12/03/2025
Dermoid Sinus Test
Good morning to all members and Ridgeback enthusiasts interested in the latest health-related updates. Things are quite exciting right now, as a Dermoid Sinus test has been available at Laboklin since early March. The test was developed to reduce the risk of passing on DS in future breeding. I’ve taken a closer look at the test for you and compared it with all the data and statistics available to me.
For three years now, you’ve been able to have the Dermoid Sinus Risk Assessment (Ridge Gene 2.0 Test) evaluated through me, and this extended testing phase has shown us how well this version works. First, I want to say I think it’s fantastic that solutions are being pursued. But as you know me, I question many things and, above all, want them to provide real added value for our breed.
I have a large number of stored samples at Laboklin from deceased breeding dogs and fully tested litters. From these, I selected 20 dogs with extensive offspring statistics. I’ve already published the results in an article but would like to discuss them here again. Those who have already taken this test know it provides a risk analysis indicating whether your dog has a very low or very high risk of inheriting or passing on DS.
I don’t know about you, but I clearly see that this test lacks any predictive power. In some pairings of dogs classified as low-risk, there were multiple DS cases, while dogs deemed high-risk passed on little to no DS. You may have noticed: ridge-dominant dogs (those with two ridge genes) are automatically labeled as having moderate, high, or very high risk in the test. This makes no sense, as most breeders know from experience that litters from ridge-dominant dogs actually have the fewest DS cases.
Comparing the results with our large dataset of fully genome-sequenced dogs (around 4,000), the TT marker almost always appears in ridge-dominant dogs, the AT marker in non-ridge-dominant dogs, and the AA marker in ridgeless dogs (with minor exceptions explainable only by the Ridge Gene 2.0 Test). This likely means owners of ridge-dominant dogs will either withhold their results or—worse—remove their dogs from breeding out of undue concern.
Years ago, I corresponded with Professor Dr. Distl, who published a study claiming the ridge gene has no connection to DS. This very study is the basis for the new DS test. Isn’t that contradictory? Why claim the ridge gene is unrelated to DS while developing a test that labels all ridge-dominant dogs as high-risk?
I hope this reassures you. You still have excellent dogs, and not a single one needs to be excluded from breeding because of this genetic test. Wishing you all a wonderful day
