{"id":47,"date":"2026-04-18T14:47:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T13:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/funded-research-impact\/?p=47"},"modified":"2026-07-31T15:27:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:27:52","slug":"minimally-invasive-diagnosis-and-prognostic-markers-for-mast-cell-tumours-in-companion-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/funded-research-impact\/minimally-invasive-diagnosis-and-prognostic-markers-for-mast-cell-tumours-in-companion-animals\/","title":{"rendered":"Minimally invasive diagnosis and prognostic markers for mast cell tumours in companion animals"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Mast cell tumours are a common cancer in companion animals, particularly dogs, but it can be difficult to decide which treatment to use on them.<\/h2>\n<p>This research focuses on developing new approaches to understand these tumours, with the aim of supporting earlier diagnosis, less invasive testing, better monitoring and improved care for pets.<\/p>\n<p>In <strong>National Pet Month<\/strong>, we\u2019re looking at how Cardiff University research is helping us care for and treat our pets.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1280px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/funded-research-impact\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/684\/2026\/05\/1280px-Mast_cell_tumor_on_lip.jpg\" alt=\"A picture of a dog with a mast cell tumour on its lip\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Joel Mills, https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/deed.en<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Impact funding from the <strong>Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, <\/strong>managed by Cardiff University, has enabled new approaches to detect and monitor mast cell tumours.<\/p>\n<p>Led by <strong>Professor Matt Smalley<\/strong>, this work is developing minimally invasive methods to support earlier diagnosis and better outcomes for pets.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers developed a minimally invasive molecular approach to detect tumour specific changes in dogs using different sample types, including blood samples, reducing the need for invasive biopsies.<\/p>\n<p>The study demonstrated accurate detection of tumour associated mutations in multiple sample types, offering flexibility in testing to decide on the best course of tumour treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) funding has enabled development of new diagnostic approaches and supported collaboration with partners including Finn Pathologists and industry suppliers.<\/p>\n<p>This work has generated the data needed to move towards clinical application and commercialisation, positioning the research for follow on funding, licensing opportunities and future use in veterinary practice.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"post-49 media-49\" class=\"image align-none\">\n<p><figure style=\"width: 1459px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/funded-research-impact\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/684\/2026\/05\/Mast-cell-tumour-giemsa-stain.jpeg\" alt=\"A picture of a slide section of a mast tumour cell\" width=\"1459\" height=\"775\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A section of mast cell tumour stained with a stain called Giemsa \u2013 the tumour is in blue, the non-tumour tissue around it is pink. (Credit: Prof. Matthew Smalley)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mast cell tumours are a common cancer in companion animals, particularly dogs, but it can be difficult to decide which treatment to use on them. This research focuses on developing [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":7183,"featured_media":49,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,221,66],"tags":[56,64,58,62,60],"class_list":["post-47","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bbsrc","category-case-studies","category-school-of-biosciences","tag-cancer","tag-mast-tumour","tag-pets","tag-tumour","tag-vetinary-science","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/funded-research-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/funded-research-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/funded-research-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/funded-research-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7183"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/funded-research-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/funded-research-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/funded-research-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions\/63"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/funded-research-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/funded-research-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/funded-research-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/funded-research-impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}