Tag Archives: dog clinical trials

Fighting Cancer with Man’s Best Friend

We’ve all heard stories of dogs saving lives whether it be alerting a family to a house fire, protecting their owner from an intruder, or saving a child from a vicious animal attack.  Now, dogs are assisting in another lifesaving way–aiding in the fight against cancer.

At twenty-two sites across the United States, clinical trials are taking place on dogs with cancer. Please note, these trials are held on dogs who have developed the disease naturally and whose owners are seeking a cure for their pet.  The cancer is not given experimentally as is most often the case with laboratory mice.

Cancer is the number one cause for death in older dogs, and the majority of cancers seen in dogs closely resemble the cancers that affect people–including their biological behavior, where it spreads, and the speed in which the cancer grows.  This is why “comparative oncology” has  recently emerged as a promising means to help cure cancer. Comparative oncology researchers study the similarities between naturally occurring cancers in dogs and cancers in people in order to provide clues on how to treat cancer more effectively.

At its core, cancer is a genetic disease.  Each breed of dog (over 400 recognized) has its own unique set of genes, and different breeds of dogs are predisposed to different types of cancer.  For example, lymphoma is more likely to affect golden retrievers.  Squamous cell carcinoma is found more often in standard poodles (but only those with black hair). Invasive bladder cancer is more likely to be found in Scotties, Westies, and Shelties.  Brain cancer (glioma) is more likely to be found in terriers, boxers, and bulldogs.  An aggressive type of bone cancer that affects children called osteosarcoma is also found in large dog breeds such as Great Danes and German shepherds.

Humans and dogs are also especially similar when it comes to the immune system.  Immunotherapy, which uses the immune system to fight cancer, has been effective in dog trials which is promising for humans.  When a trial is successful in a dog, it can move on to a human trial.  As of now four drugs have made it to a human trial.  Sutent, which is sometimes prescribed for advanced kidney cancer, is one such drug. And in 2010, the vaccine known as ONCEPT became the first cancer vaccine to be approved in the United States.  According to Jedd D. Wolchok, M.D., Ph.D., the chief of the Melanoma and Immunotherapeutics Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, “There’s no question that the success of the animal trials did a lot to speed up the approval process of the human trials.”

Seems to us, dogs may just be man’s best friend–and women’s, too!

Source Material:  The Veterinary Cancer Resource Center, Cancer Research Institute, Dogtime.com, NBC News, CNN