Dogs Have Their Day In Comparative Cancer Research

Main Category: Veterinary
Article Date: 22 Jul 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Dogs, it appears, are capable of much more than providing companionship to their owners, fetching the morning paper or serving as willing participants during an evening jog.

They may one day also help us find a cure for cancer, and veterinarians are playing a vital role in the process.

That expertise will be on full display during the American Veterinary Medical Association's 145th Annual Convention in New Orleans, La., July 19 - July 22, 2008. Among the many programs focusing on oncology, special emphasis is being placed on the significant advancements being made in comparative medicine, thanks in large part to the volumes of scientific information our canine companions are helping us gather.

"The perspective of a veterinarian in biomedical research is unique from other backgrounds," said Chand Khanna, DVM, Ph.D., section head with the Pediatric Oncology Branch and director of the Comparative Oncology Program of the National Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Research. "What veterinarians bring to the table is valued, informative and desired by the community."

Khanna's primary areas of research interest are the biology and treatment of cancer metastasis. He has been able to combine his training in veterinary oncology with his interests in cancer research through the development and leadership of the National Cancer Institute's Comparative Oncology Program.

"What we are trying to do is define opportunities to enhance the development path of new human drugs by providing new treatments to pet dogs that have developed cancer," said Khanna, who will give two lectures on comparative medicine on Monday, July 21. "The cancers that dogs develop provide a novel way to study cancer that will help both two-legged and four-legged cancer patients."

The sequencing of the dog genome is a milestone in studying diseases in the species and is lending increased clarity to what happens to sick dogs on a cellular level. That insight, along with what is already known about human cancers, is bridging the gap between what we know about cancer and the hunt for treatments and a cure. By studying bone cancer in both dogs and people, for example, scientists like Khanna have been able to show that osteosarcoma is nearly indistinguishable between the two species.

"Many of the unanswered questions that exist in the development path of new drugs may be effectively answered by integrating studies that include pet dogs with cancer," Khanna said. "Our comparative approach has provided novel, necessary and informative perspective for the study of cancer biology. The approach exemplifies the values of One Medicine in the study of complex biomedical problems."

Veterinarian Philip Bergman is equally delighted with the advancements being made in treating canine cancer. Bergman, chief medical officer of BrightHeart Veterinary Centers, will speak about cancer vaccines and veterinary oncology advances during several programs on Saturday, July 19.

"All kinds of research is showing that cancers are very similar across the species," Bergman said. "Molecularly, they appear one in the same. We still have a lot of work to do to fully characterize them, but it appears that they seem extraordinarily similar clinically on a core level. They may actually help us answer some very fundamental questions we have."

One particular area of Bergman's interest is the use of DNA vaccinations in treating melanoma in dogs - and perhaps one day in people. DNA vaccination is a technique for protecting an organism against disease by injecting it with genetically engineered DNA to produce an immunological response. In Bergman's studies, dogs with cancer are injected with human DNA, which tricks the immune system into having an immune response.

Collaborative efforts between human and veterinary doctors led to the development of the vaccine, which has received conditional licensure for use by veterinary oncologists.

"It is such a different way of treating cancer. And it is one with few, if any, side effects," Bergman said. "We typically use the standard trifecta of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, and the outcome is usually another three to six months. If we add the therapeutic vaccine, our work suggests that that average extends out to almost three years. It is very pleasing to have that when your standardized treatments aren't working that well, if at all."

Bergman said there could be human applications of the vaccine in another five years, "if things go extremely well."

In the meantime, Bergman will continue to use the vaccine in treating his canine patients.

"This is something I consider myself very lucky to do," he said. "To be able to impact the care of our veterinary patients is part and parcel to what we do as veterinarians. But to have that potentially impact human cancer care is extremely exciting and fulfilling."

For more information about the AVMA annual convention in New Orleans July 18-22, visit http://www.avmaconventionmedia.org.

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and its more than 76,000 member veterinarians are engaged in a wide variety of activities dedicated to advancing the science and art of animal, human and public health. Visit the AVMA Web site at www.avma.org for more information.