Is that patch of rough-looking skin or little warty lump a sarcoid? Researchers are working to develop a blood test to aid in diagnosing sarcoids in horses. | Photo: Alexandra Beckstett/The Horse

Sometimes it’s obvious your horse has a sarcoid—those skin tumors with a classic nodular or verrucous (cauliflowerlike) appearance are difficult to miss. But what about that patch of rough-looking skin or that little warty lump? Are they sarcoids? Your veterinarian can run diagnostic tests for sarcoids in horses, but those techniques aren’t without their challenges. Gold-standard biopsies can aggravate the tumors and make the disease worse, and less-invasive swabbing techniques don’t detect all cases.

But researchers in Switzerland are working toward a new way to confirm sarcoids: They’ve tested an innovative blood test that looks for recently identified biomarkers indicative of sarcoids.

The focus is on microRNAs (miRNAs)—tiny RNAs that circulate freely in the blood without cells and don’t code for anything, but seem to target and silence messenger RNAs, said Lucia Unger, DrMedVet, Dipl. ECEIM, and Vinzenz Gerber, DrMedVet, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, ECEIM, both of the University of Bern Vetsuisse Faculty Swiss Institute of Equine Medicine and Agroscope Bern