Upper airway syndrome in Norwich Terriers

This disease manifests itself with respiratory symptoms of varying severity. Typical listening phenomena are stridor (loud harsh sound on inspiration caused by narrowing of the airways) and stertor (snoring sound caused by relaxation of the soft palate). However, breathing difficulties can be more severe and can lead to collapse or suffocation. The main anatomical abnormalities in affected dogs include mild soft palate elongation, swelling of the pharyngeal mucosa and abnormal structure of the laryngeal mucosa and wall. These changes cause upper airway obstruction.

In the Norwich Terrier, this syndrome is caused by a missense mutation c.2786G>A in the ADAMTS3 gene. The inheritance of the mutation is still unknown.

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Reference:

Marchant, T.W., Dietschi, E., Rytz, U., Schawalder, P., Jagannathan, V., Hadji Rasouliha, S., Gurtner, C., Waldvogel, A.S., Harrington, R.S., Drögemüller, M., Kidd, J., Ostrander, E.A., Warr, A., Watson, M., Argyle, D., Ter Haar, G., Clements, D.N., Leeb, T., Schoenebeck, J.J. : An ADAMTS3 missense variant is associated with Norwich Terrier upper airway syndrome. PLoS Genet 15:e1008102, 2019. Pubmed reference: 31095560