Archive for the ‘Dog Osteosarcoma’ Category

Prognostic factors in canine appendicular osteosarcoma – a meta-analysis

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Posted 17 May 2012 — by James Street
Category Dog Osteosarcoma

Appendicular osteosarcoma is the most common malignant primary canine bone tumor. When treated by amputation or tumor removal alone, median survival times (MST) do not exceed 5 months, with the majority of dogs suffering from metastatic disease.

This period can be extended with adequate local intervention and adjuvant chemotherapy, which has become common practice. Several prognostic factors have been reported in many different studies, e.g.

age, breed, weight, sex, neuter status, location of tumor, serum alkaline phosphatase (SALP), bone alkaline phosphatase (BALP), infection, percentage of bone length affected, histological grade or histological subtype of tumor. Most of these factors are, however, only reported as confounding factors in larger studies.

Insight in truly significant prognostic factors at time of diagnosis may contribute to tailoring adjuvant therapy for individual dogs suffering from osteosarcoma.The objective of this study was to systematically review the prognostic factors that are described for canine appendicular osteosarcoma and validate their scientific importance.

Results: A literature review was performed on selected studies and eligible data were extracted. Meta-analyses were done for two of the three selected possible prognostic factors (SALP and location), looking at both survival time (ST) and disease free interval (DFI).

The third factor (age) was studied in a qualitative manner. Both elevated SALP level and the (proximal) humerus as location of the primary tumor are significant negative prognostic factors for both ST and DFI in dogs with appendicular osteosarcoma.

Increasing age was associated with shorter ST and DFI, however, was not statistically significant because information of this factor was available in only a limited number of papers.

Conclusions: Elevated SALP and proximal humeral location are significant negative prognosticators for canine osteosarcoma.

Author: Ilse BoermanGayathri T SelvarajahMirjam NielenJolle Kirpensteijn
Credits/Source: BMC Veterinary Research 2012, 8:56

House Votes to Scrap Medicare Payment Board

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Posted 23 Mar 2012 — by James Street
Category Dog Osteosarcoma, Finance and Politics of cancer research and treatment

 

 

By Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage TodayPublished: March 22, 2012

 

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives has voted 223-181 to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) for Medicare, and to restrict medical malpractice lawsuits.

The measure is known as H.R. 5, the Protecting Access to Healthcare Act, and is sponsored by Rep. Phil Gingrey, MD (R-Ga.). It would eliminate the IPAB, the 15-member independent panel created under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Starting in 2015, the IPAB would be tasked with making binding recommendations on how to reduce Medicare spending. If Congress doesn’t agree with the recommended cuts, it would be required to pass its own cuts of the same size.

But Republicans, along with some Democrats, oppose the concept, saying it would lead to rationing of medical care. The Obama Administration has noted that under the law, the IPAB is prohibited from recommending changes to Medicare that ration health care, restrict benefits, modify eligibility, increase cost-sharing, or raise premiums or revenues.

Several prominent Democrats voiced support for the IPAB repeal earlier in the month, including Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Rep. Allyson Schwartz of Pennsylvania, who also authored legislation to repeal the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula for physician reimbursement under Medicare. However, after House Republicans added a provision to the IPAB bill that limited the amounts of damages awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits to $250,000, Democratic support appeared to disappear.

Historically, Democrats (including President Obama) oppose caps on medical malpractice lawsuits. Republicans said the malpractice cap would discourage frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals.

The American Medical Association (AMA), which supports the ACA as a whole but opposes the IPAB, praised the House vote.

“We applaud the House for voting to eliminate the IPAB, a panel which would have too little accountability and the power to make indiscriminate cuts that adversely affect access to health care for patients,” said Jeremy Lazarus, MD, president-elect of the AMA. “This new, arbitrary system is not what we need when patients and physicians are already struggling with a looming cut of nearly 30 percent from the broken Medicare physician payment formula.”

The group also spoke in favor of the medical malpractice provision of the bill.

However, the bill is likely dead on arrival in the Senate, and the White House threatened to veto the bill if it does pass the Senate. Obama has called the IPAB a crucial component for restraining the growing cost of Medicare.

Dogs Get Cancer Like People, and Hold Clues to Cures

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Posted 12 Feb 2012 — by James Street
Category Dog Osteosarcoma

Researchers hoping to develop a promising new approach to treating cancer in people are trying it in another group: pet dogs.

The aim of personalized medicine is to design an optimum cancer therapy after analyzing genes in a patient’s tumor. Dogs, which have strong genetic similarities with humans, get many of the same types of cancers as people and have similar responses to cancer-fighting drugs. When diagnosed, dogs often have a shorter survival time than humans, allowing researchers to see if a drug is making a difference in a shorter period.

In people, it can take three to five years from the time they are diagnosed until the disease reaches an advanced stage. But in dogs, trials testing whether novel drug therapies extend survival can be finished in six to 18 months, says Melissa Paoloni, director of the Comparative Oncology Trials Consortium at the National Cancer Institute.

 Canine patients also are easier to enroll in clinical trials. When cancer researchers last year wanted to do a genetic study of cocker spaniels, a breed at relatively high risk of getting melanoma, and Great Pyrenees, who are at risk for osteosarcoma, a bone cancer, they contacted PetSmart Inc., the Phoenix-based national chain of pet stores. Making use of its big database, PetSmart sent out 117,000 emails to cocker spaniel and Great Pyrenees owners who had entered contact information after bringing in their pets for grooming. The request: Has your dog been diagnosed with cancer and would you be willing to have your dog’s genetic information analyzed?

Within a week, nearly 300 pet owners responded with an offer to send saliva samples to be analyzed. That kind of large and speedy response in a human study is very difficult to achieve, says Jeffrey Trent, who organized the pet study. Dr. Trent is president and research director at Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix, which is participating in a privately funded effort to develop personalized treatments for people with certain types of melanoma. If the personalized medicine approach “makes a difference in treating the canines,” Dr. Trent says, “it can readily be moved into trial in humans.”

All cancers are believed to have genetic features, though what particular mutation or other aberration is involved with each type of tumor often isn’t known. When this information is discovered, through genetic sequencing, for example, tests can be done to see if the tumor responds to any of various drugs or combinations of drugs.

Although the cost of sequencing a genome has plummeted, it is still expensive and therefore not readily available to the vast majority of patients. And, in line with accepted standards of care, new agents are traditionally tried only in people who have advanced disease or have failed to respond to traditional therapies. With dogs, drugs and different drug combinations can be tried in newly diagnosed animals.

The use of so-called targeted therapies to treat some cancers is considered an early form of personalized medicine. For example, women with a certain kind of breast cancer in which testing shows the Her2 gene is over-expressed are given the drug Herceptin. Last year, the Food and Drug Administration approved a drug to treat patients whose melanoma tumors express a BRAF gene mutation.

One question researchers face is whether a patient’s tumor can be analyzed, and a treatment recommendation formulated, quickly enough to allow doctors to make clinical decisions. Working with dogs, Dr. Paoloni and colleagues conducted a pilot study last year to see if they could accomplish this in less than a week. The researchers enrolled 31 dogs with different types of cancer, including lymphoma and melanoma. The result: A genetic analysis of each dog’s cancer and a report listing which chemotherapy agents might best treat it, was generated for each dog in under five days, a “feasible” time frame for treatment, says Dr. Paoloni.

Researchers, including those at the National Cancer Institute, plan to launch three clinical trials later this year in dogs with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer, angiosarcoma, a blood-vessel cancer, and melanoma, the deadly skin cancer. The trials will test combinations of medicines based on the genetics of the dogs’ tumors. They also will try to analyze whether drug regimens based on personalized tumor data can prevent cancer from spreading to other organs and lead to longer survival.

The researchers say they believe that trying to understand how to stop metastasis in dogs’ cancer will offer insights into the process in human cancers as well.

Stephen Gately heads a group at Translational Genomics that is setting up clinical trials on personalized medicine for people. Dr. Gately wanted his dog, Bob, to benefit from the approach after the pet got cancer last year. Working with colleagues, he had a biopsy from the dog’s cancer in one of his lymph nodes analyzed for genetic information.

It took a while for Dr. Gately to realize that Bob, a Bernese Mountain Dog, was sick. “Dogs with cancer are very good at covering up when they are not feeling well,” the Scottsdale, Ariz., resident says. But one day, Bob came in from outdoors coughing and seemed to have difficulty breathing. The vet found enlarged lymph nodes in Bob’s neck and a biopsy revealed he had lymphosarcoma, an aggressive form of lymphoma that is prevalent in dogs.

Bob was treated with the same drugs humans get for lymphoma. The pet’s disease progressed so rapidly, however, that after a family celebration at Christmas time, they decided to put the dog to sleep. He was never enrolled in a formal personalized medicine trial.

“I know we can do better than the old drugs,” says Dr. Gately. Bob’s data are being studied at the institute and will be used to help develop future personalized-medicine trials, Dr. Gately says.

Write to Amy Dockser Marcus at amy.marcus@wsj.com

Canine Cancer Studies Yield Human Insights

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Posted 12 Feb 2012 — by James Street
Category Dog Osteosarcoma

By (@JaneEAllenABC) and LANA ZAK, ABC News Medical Unit
Feb. 8 2012

Some of the most promising insights into cancer are coming from pet dogs thanks to emerging studies exploring remarkable biological similarities between man and his best friend.

Cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs. Every year, millions of dogs develop lymphomas and malignancies of the bones, blood vessels, skin and breast. An increasing group of researchers recognize cancer-stricken canines as a natural study population, especially given owners’ storied devotion to their canine companions’ well-being.

Because dogs age many times more rapidly than humans and their cancers progress more quickly, canine cancer studies produce quicker results. Veterinary oncologists talk in terms of “one- to two-year survival times” for their pet patients, compared to survival times of five to 10 years that oncologists discuss for their human patients, said Dr. Melissa Paoloni, a veterinary oncologist with the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research in Bethesda, Md.

A consortium of 20 veterinary centers created by the NCI and overseen by Paoloni aims to speed the development of better therapies and new strategies for treating and preventing human cancers. At the same time, some institutions, such as the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Texas A&M in College Station, Texas, are independently teaming up on their own to share human and animal findings.

One beneficiary of that collaboration has been Rowdy, an 8-year-old Great Pyrenees dog diagnosed in August with bone cancer.

Rowdy might have undergone chemotherapy and amputation of his front leg had his owner opted for conventional therapy. But Kate Cordts of San Antonio lost another dog to the same disease and assiduously researched experimental treatments for canine osteosarcoma.

She enrolled Rowdy in a clinical trial at Texas A&M, where veterinary cancer specialists delivered experimental radiation therapy directly into his diseased leg, followed by chemotherapy.

Six months later, Rowdy is living up to his name, thanks to a regimen that not only saved the leg, but also might one day help children diagnosed with the same malignancy.

“I think it’s kind of wonderful,” Cordts, 58, a librarian, told ABCNews.com today. “What more could I ask?”

The specialist who treated Rowdy supports more such studies.

“One of the great advantages of doing clinical trials in dogs is that owners can elect to do experimental therapy instead of conventional from the very beginning,” Dr. Terry Fossum, the Texas A&M veterinarian who administered Rowdy’s limb-sparing, potentially life-saving treatment, told ABC News.

People, in contrast, typically undergo experimental treatments only after conventional treatments have failed.

Paoloni said the Comparative Oncology Trials Consortium has so far conducted 11 clinical trials. Its pilot study of just 31 dogs demonstrated that scientists could conduct sophisticated molecular profiling of tumors and, within five days, use it to create a personalized treatment plan based on an individual dog’s profile, Paoloni told ABCNews.com. The study stands at the cutting edge of personalized medicine, she said.

Investigators currently are designing three early-stage trials of this approach for larger numbers of dogs with melanoma, osteosarcoma and angiosarcoma. She expects those to begin late this year or early in 2013.

Since the identification of the dog genome in 2005, researchers have been identifying genetic changes associated with dog cancers and comparing them to changes “in corresponding human cancers” to figure out where there is overlap, said Dr. Matthew Breen, an associate professor of genomics at NC State University School of Veterinary Medicine in Raleigh, N.C., one of the consortium schools. By being able to “tease out the major genes associated with cancers in other species and then assess the role of these genes,” scientists have found changes in canine lymphoma that can predict how well that dog will respond to standard chemotherapy, a finding that could potentially benefit as many as 300,000 dogs diagnosed each year.

By seeing if the same changes in human lymphoma can predict treatment success, “this translation from dog to human” might improve doctors’ ability to predict the responses of “up to 70,000 Americans” diagnosed with lymphoma each year, he said.

Assuring these programs can thrive depends upon making pet owners aware of clinical trials. Texas A&M’s Fossum, who helped establish the Texas Veterinary Cancer Registry, told ABC News she hopes to make the registry a national resource linking more pet owners with clinical trials.

In the meantime, word is slowly getting around that clinical trials can be a win-win for pets and people.

Jack Sevey Jr. created the website MyCancerPet.com in January 2011 after his 5-year-old boxer Bull died from T-cell lymphoma. Sevey wanted to create an online community for fellow owners of cancer-stricken pets and also steer them to helpful resources. Those include lists of clinical trials compiled by several organizations: the AKC Canine Health Foundation, Animal Clinical Investigation, the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research, the Morris Animal Foundation and the Veterinary Cancer Society.

Canine clinical trials have the potential to accelerate progress in the fight against cancer, helping “patients with and without fur,” Paoloni told ABCNews.com Tuesday. “All of our interests are geared to learning something from the dog that’s applied to human patients.”

ABC News’ Serena Marshall contributed to this report.

Toxic levels of chemical found in dog foods

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Posted 09 Jan 2012 — by James Street
Category Dog Osteosarcoma

Toxic amounts of a fluoride have been found in several major brands of dog food, possibly putting pets at a higher risk of cancer, neurotoxicity and other life-threatening illnesses, a research organization warns.

The dog foods contain fluoride levels 2.5 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s national drinking water standard and those excessive levels “can predispose dogs to health problems, along with high veterinary bills, later in life,” according to the Environmental Working Group.

“Due to a failed regulatory system and suspect practices by some in the pet food industry, countless dogs may be ingesting excessive fluoride that could put them at risk,” Olga Naidenko, lead researcher of the Environmental Working Group-sponsored study, states in a media release.

Scientists have yet to determine how much fluoride is safe for dogs, but they have found people who consume excessive fluoride often develop mottled teeth (dental fluorosis) and weakened bones, leading to more fractures. High fluoride consumption is also associated with reproductive and developmental system damage, neurotoxicity, hormonal disruption, and bone cancer.

Three studies show that boys ages 6 to 8 who drink fluoridated tap water face a heightened risk of osteosarcoma, the rare but deadly form of bone cancer associated with fluoride. Scientists suspect that boys’ rapid growth may make them more susceptible to bone cancer.

Dogs may be even more vulnerable to osteosarcoma than humans, according to EWG. More than 8,000 osteosarcoma cases occur in dogs each year in the United States, nearly 10 times the number that occur in people, according to the study.

“Whatever the size and the appetite of a dog, combined fluoride exposure from food and water can easily range into unsafe territory,” the study states. “And, unlike children, who enjoy a variety of foods as they grow up, puppies and adult dogs eat the same food from the same bag every day, constantly consuming more fluoride than is healthy for normal growth.”

In the study, 10 brands of dog food were tested. Two dog food brands, one with vegetarian ingredients and one made by a small manufacturer, had no detectable levels of fluoride. But eight others – all major brands – found to contain high levels of fluoride. The contents of those brands included chicken byproduct meal, poultry byproduct meal, chicken meal, beef and bone meal. Any ingredient described as “animal meal” is basically ground bones, cooked with steam, dried, and mashed to make a cheap dog food filler.

The Washington-based Environmental Working Group, whose stated purpose is to protect human health and the environment, advises pet parents to feed food to their dogs that contains no bone meal and other meat byproducts to minimize exposure to harmful pollutants, including fluoride. “To protect pets from excessive fluoride exposures, dog owners can purchase pet foods that do not contain bone meal and other animal byproducts,” the study states.

Pet food should be held to the same health and safety standards as human food and should be free of contaminants that may endanger pets’ health, the study states. Yet, the federal Food and Drug Administration has little authority and few resources to ensure that products produced for pets are safe. The fact so many popular national pet food brands contain previously undetected health hazards shows that better federal food safety regulations are needed.

Vitamin D could help in fighting pediatric bone cancer

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Posted 17 Dec 2011 — by James Street
Category Dog Osteosarcoma, Local Recurrence, Lung Metastases, Metastases, Osteosarcoma, Vitamin D

Posted by Laura HerringDecember 16, 2011 at 9:05 a.m.

A study by a group of Kansas University researchers found that vitamin D can cause cancerous bone cells to turn to normal bone cells.

The findings, which were published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Research, could lead to a new treatment in fighting pediatric bone cancer, which has a survival rate of 60 percent to 70 percent.

Recent studies have shown vitamin D can inhibit the growth of malignant cells in breast, prostate and colon cancer. Kim Templeton, an orthopedic surgeon at Kansas University Hospital, was among the experts on a panel that discussed vitamin D research and cancer. She was surprised that none of the studies or trials included the effect of vitamin D on osteosarcoma, a malignant bone tumor that mainly affects children and adolescents.

“It’s the most common type of bone cancer in kids and teenagers and vitamin D is critical to bone health,” she said. So an interdisciplinary team at the Kansas University Medical Center came together to study how vitamin D affects bone cancer. The team used cancerous tumor cells to do the research.

“My question was if the tumor recognizes Vitamin D and if it would help control the cells,” Templeton said. In the laboratory tests, not only did the cancerous cells recognize the vitamin D, but it prevented the osteosarcoma cells from replicating as quickly and promoted the growth of normal bone cells.

“What should happen and what does happen (in the lab) is always two different things,” Templeton said. “So, I was happy it turned out the way we thought it would.”

The findings are important for a cancer who hasn’t seen the treatment methods or rate of survival change in the past 20 to 25 years. Most osteosarcoma patients undergo 10 weeks of chemotherapy before the tumor is removed.

The findings suggest that a normal size dose of vitamin D could become another tool in the treatment of osteosarcoma. Unlike chemotherapy, normal doses of vitamin D don’t have any negative side effects and it is inexpensive.

Before clinical trials on humans can began, researchers would have to test the effects of vitamin D on animals, which might include large dogs since they have a high rate of osteosarcoma.

Templeton said the findings don’t suggest people should start taking vitamin D to prevent bone cancer. Although that is a connection researchers might study in the future.

By Christine Metz

New studies help extend the lives of dogs with cancer

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Posted 05 Dec 2011 — by James Street
Category Dog Osteosarcoma
The College of Veterinary Medicine will begin a new trial this week.
Luke enjoys playing with a tennis ball while his owner,Track Huston, sits beside him Saturday at home in Crystal, Minn. Luke, a 6-year-old English Springer Spaniel, was the first participant in a trial for dogs with lymphoma at the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
Anthony Kwan
Published: 2011-12-05
Rachel Raveling rraveling@mndaily.com

When Luke, the Huston family’s 6-year-old English Springer Spaniel, was diagnosed with lymphoma, their vet recommended a new trial at the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Luke was the first participant in a trial for dogs with lymphoma, but he’s one of many animal-companion owners bring to the University to contribute to research.

This week, the College of Veterinary Medicine will begin a new trial aimed at the latest treatment for dogs with osteosarcoma, a cancerous bone tumor.

Osteosarcoma often occurs in dogs’ front or hind legs, causing pain and bone destruction. It has high potential to spread to other parts of the body, said Antonella Borgatti, assistant professor of oncology and a researcher for the trial.

Catherine St. Hill, assistant professor of veterinary clinical science, said there are carbohydrates attached to cancer cells that make it easier for them to bind tightly to blood vessels — their mode of transportation through the body.

The goal of her research is to discover a way to either prevent the making of the carbohydrate or slow the progression of the disease.

When dogs pass away from osteosarcoma, it is most commonly a result of spreading, Borgatti said.

The OSAL —  osteosarcoma and salmonella —trial aims to stop the spread of cancer through amputation of the infected limb followed by chemotherapy and treatment using genetically modified salmonella designed to attack only the cancerous cells.

Kathy Stuebner, research coordinator for the University’s Clinical Investigation Center, said researchers will use PET-CT, a full body scan used to detect cancer and cancer spread.  It will be used on dogs for the first time before and after the treatment to help detect its effectiveness and identify proper treatment levels.

The goal for all their trials is to keep the dogs comfortable and prolong remission, she said.

Stuebner said the trial is “approved and ready to go.”  They hope to start this week.

In the meantime, five other oncology trials are active.  The trial that Luke initiated, called “Licking Lymphoma,” is testing Valspodar, a study drug, which Borgatti said should decrease the resistance to chemotherapy.

The trial was designed by Jaime Modiano, professor of veterinary clinical science, in partnership with Purdue University and the University of Pennsylvania.  Modiano said the trial was designed out of “scientific curiosity” and it “is transformational because it combines companion animals and human benefit.”

Dogs with lymphoma —cancer of the lymph nodes — go through “staging,” or full body testing, with X-rays and biopsies to determine the stage of their cancer.  Generally, healthy dogs with “B cell” lymphoma are accepted for the study, Borgatti said.

The dogs are put into two groups, some are given Valspodar and others are given a placebo, for four days.  Then they all go through chemotherapy.

The Huston family got involved in the “Licking Lymphoma” trial in April when they noticed their dog Luke had swollen lymph nodes in his neck.

Mike Huston, Luke’s owner, said they took him to the vet thinking he was suffering from allergies.  After a blood test, they were told that Luke might have lymphoma.  Their vet said Luke might meet the criteria to be a participant in the University’s lymphoma trials.

Huston said they took Luke to the University to be tested and after a long discussion as a family they decided to apply for the trial.

After the treatment Huston said Luke went into remission for seven months.

Borgatti said that most dogs only go into remission for a few months, so in Luke’s case, the trial was a success.

“Luke never showed any signs of pain, even during treatment.  He still runs and plays ball, everything is the same,” Huston said.

He added that the experience was much easier than he imagined because the veterinarians were very professional, yet personable.

“If he was going to get treatment, we decided we should do it there because the facility is the best and he could contribute to future research,” he said.

All studies that are done in the CVM are approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, who check for ethics and animal welfare, which comforts many pet owners, Stuebner said.

There is also a financial incentive for owners to help pay for the chemotherapy in the oncology trials.  The “Licking Lymphoma” trial credits the owner $2,500 after he or she makes an initial payment before treatment.

“It’s a hard decision to make and most people wouldn’t pay for treatment for their pet without financial incentive,” Borgatti said.

There are free social services available to all clients who need extra support and help making a decision about what is best for them and their pet, she said.

She added that “most owners are happy that the trial is giving them an option.” By participating in research, they get more personal attention than they would at a normal vet.

“The trials give us a chance to get to know the owners really well,” Stuebner said.

Stuebner and Borgatti said the lymphoma trial has been going on for about six months and based on their expectations, they said they hope the study will be finished in six months to a year.

The trials being done for dogs in the CVM are unique because they hope the research will be used for humans with similar diseases in the future, Borgatti said.

“It is very satisfying because if we’re wrong, we learn from it,” Modiano said. “And if we’re right, we’ve got something that works better than anything else.”

Luke’s lymphoma has returned, but like always, he still enjoys playing around with his family. The Hustons are working with the University to keep him comfortable as the disease progresses.

Dogs With Cancer Helping to Find a Cure

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Posted 03 Dec 2011 — by James Street
Category Dog Osteosarcoma, Osteosarcoma, Vaccine, vaccine

Dogs receiving various treatments are helping medicine find new therapies for people, too

December 2, 2011

When her black Lab, Emmy, started limping in 2008, Kathi Streeter suspected the normal aches and pains of aging. Then came the devastating diagnosis: osteosarcoma, a deadly bone tumor. Osteosarcoma affects humans, too—mostly children, whose long-term survival rate, if the cancer spreads, is under 40 percent. Though Emmy died in May at the ripe old age of 13, she gained nearly three years of healthy living, and one day her treatment may help those kids.

[Learn more about how dogs help mankind in Mysteries of Science: Amazing Animals.]

In her quest to save Emmy, Streeter learned about a study underway at Colorado State University’s Animal Cancer Center in Fort Collins, about 100 miles from her home in Franktown, Colo. It was testing a gene therapy that could be injected straight into osteosarcoma tumors. The gene delivers a molecule designed to induce the cancer cells to self-destruct. Veterinarians there wanted to see how well dogs reacted to the treatment, as part of an effort to determine whether it might also be investigated for use in children.

Streeter is a cancer survivor herself—in 2004, she underwent a double mastectomy and chemotherapy to treat breast cancer—and didn’t hesitate to sign Emmy up. After the injection, CSU vets gave Emmy the standard treatment, too: amputation of her leg plus six rounds of chemo. They’re now evaluating how the injection affected the tumor. Although the results of this trial have not yet been published, previous trials suggest that the therapy may enhance the immune system’s ability to combat the tumor.

CSU is one of 20 participants in the Comparative Oncology Trials Consortium (COTC), a growing program started in 2003 and managed by the National Cancer Institute to study cancer in dogs and to recruit them for clinical trials of new treatments. The goal is more effective, more personalized treatments for man as well as his best friend. “Several tumor types in dogs mimic human cancers in their biologic behavior and genetic signature,” says Susan Lana, associate professor of clinical oncology at CSU. “Dogs can help us try to answer questions like, ‘Why does this cancer spread?’ and ‘Are there genetic pathways we can explore for treatment?’ ”

Dogs are ideal models, Lana says, because they’re genetically similar to humans and share the same environment. They develop cancer naturally, unlike mice and rats, which must be engineered to have the disease. And dogs are big enough to undergo MRIs as well as blood tests and biopsies, so scientists can better observe changes in the cancer over time. Thanks to advances in genomics and gene sequencing, researchers have established which canine cancers are most similar to their human counterparts. Besides osteosarcoma, they include prostate and breast cancer, melanoma, soft tissue sarcoma, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Vaccine success. Comparative oncology has already produced some success stories. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved Oncept, a therapeutic vaccine for dogs with melanoma. Therapeutic vaccines are designed to mobilize the immune system to make antibodies against cancer cells, which ideally then destroy the cells and keep the cancer from coming back, and they’ve long been the holy grail of cancer drug development. But many of the vaccines tested have proved disappointing. If Oncept is any indication, dogs might hold the key to fine-tuning cancer vaccines. Some dogs in the Oncept trials lived more than a year after their diagnosis—far outpacing the typical lifespan of one to five months with conventional therapies.

The data from the dog trials were impressive enough to prompt the Food and Drug Administration to green-light a small human trial of a similar drug. Jedd Wolchok, a physician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the drug’s codeveloper, is hoping a pharmaceutical company will fund the large clinical trials that would be needed to get the human version of the vaccine approved. “These trials can take over five years and they’re exorbitantly expensive, but the risk could lead to a long-term payoff,” he says.

Veterinarian Gerald Post learned the benefits of canine cancer trials as a pet owner. “Instead of living three months, he lived 2½ years,” Post says of his miniature schnauzer, Smokey, a participant in the Oncept trials. “He taught me to leave no stone unturned.” Post is now an investigator for several canine clinical trials, which he runs out of his Norwalk, Conn., office.

Joining a trial offers twin rewards for dog owners: access to cutting-edge treatments they might not otherwise be able to find or afford, and, even when there’s little hope, the satisfaction of contributing to the quest for cures. “We knew the trial wouldn’t resolve the cancer,” says Richard Liscinsky, whose golden retriever, Samantha, 6, was part of a one-week trial of a protein-based lymphoma drug designed to restrict the growth of cancer cells. Liscinsky and his wife, Ann, who live in Bronxville, N.Y., hoped the treatment regimen would offer up some answers and give them one more summer in Vermont with their beloved pet. Lymphoma is all too common in golden retrievers; Samantha is the second of the three goldens the Liscinskys have owned that has contracted the disease. “It’s frightening that cancer is so rampant—for all of us,” Ann says.

Owners who participate in trials typically get at least part of the care at no charge. The funding comes from a variety of sources, including federal grants, pharmaceutical companies, and philanthropists with a soft spot for dogs. Among the last group are Dave and LuAnn Runkle of Wayzata, Minn., who lost their golden retriever, William, to a rare and aggressive form of cancer called histiocytosis and then launched the Will-Power Cancer Research Fund to support comparative oncology trials at the University of Minnesota. The $10,000 they’ve raised so far is helping to fund trials in both dogs and cats, which also develop tumors that are similar to human cancers. Dave’s motto? “Help your animal, help yourself,” he says.

Shelter rescues. Some comparative oncology programs are reaching out to dogs that have no owners to rely on. In the summer of 2009, the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine launched the Shelter Canine Mammary Tumor Program, for example. Veterinarians there rescue dogs with mammary tumors from shelters, remove the tumors, and then adopt the dogs out to local families. More than 30 dogs have benefited so far, says Karin Sorenmo, Penn Vet’s chief of medical oncology.

Sorenmo’s team is studying the tumors to try to figure out what causes benign breast cells to turn malignant and spread. “It’s metastasis that kills the cancer patient,” Sorenmo says. “If we can learn what genetic events make tumors spread, it opens up a lot of possibilities for new treatments.”

For Mildred Edmond, that possibility is intriguing on several levels. Edmond adopted Cali, a 6-year-old bichon frise in the Penn trial who had 11 tumors removed. “Poor little Cali—she had a full mastectomy,” Edmond says. Edmond herself survived breast cancer six years ago, so she is eager for the scientists at Penn to unravel the complexities of the disease. “I have two granddaughters and a great granddaughter. I’d hate for them to go through what I went through,” she says. (Edmond and Cali are both now cancer-free.)

Dog survivors sometimes play more than a research role. After Emmy survived her bout with cancer, Streeter signed her up for a program at Children’s Hospital of Denver called YAPS, for Youth and Pet Survivors. With Streeter’s help, Emmy sent letters and photos to a young girl being treated for brain cancer. “I became [the patient's] pen pal,” Streeter says. “She brought pictures of Emmy to surgery.”

Streeter likes to think that giving Emmy the opportunity to contribute to a fuller understanding of a cancer that affects kids made the disease more bearable for everyone involved. Emmy loved children, she says. “If I could have asked her permission to do the trial, she would have said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ ”

Arlene Weintraub is the New York editor of Xconomy.com.

This story is excerpted from Amazing Animals, a U.S. News & World Report special edition. You can order it at www.usnews.com/animalsbook or by calling 1-800-836-6397.

Dogs Fighting Cancer

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Posted 02 Dec 2011 — by James Street
Category Dog Osteosarcoma, Lymphoma, Vaccine

Reported December 2011

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (Ivanhoe Newswire) –In the U.S, one in four people will die of cancer each year, but it’s not only humans that are in danger. Cancer is the leading cause of death among older cats and dogs. Now, new research is helping man’s best friends thrive while giving researchers a chance at curing cancer in humans.

Millie Edmonds always wanted to adopt. So when the opportunity knocked, she took it.

“She just needed someone to love her,” Millie Edmonds told Ivanhoe.

And that love was put to the test soon after Millie took Cali home. Cali had twelve tumors in her mammary glands

“We were there to help her – whether she was sick or not,” Edmonds said.

Like breast cancer in humans –early detection can save a dog’s life. That’s why oncologist, Dr. Karin Sorenmo created the Shelter Canine Mammary Tumor Program. She and her veterinary students provide care to shelter dogs with tumors. They collect the canine tissue samples for scientists to compare with human ones. Most dogs have tumors in one gland and will develop others. Researchers can study tumors in all stages of development…potentially stopping the spread of the cancer cells.

“If we can figure out what happens when a tumor becomes malignant, what are the most important genetic alterations, maybe there will be a target that can be drugged,” Karin Sorenmo, an oncologist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine told Ivanhoe.

At a clinical trial at Colorado State University Animal Cancer Center, oncologist Jenna Burton is helping dogs fight B cell lymphoma.

“Lymphoma is a very aggressive type of cancer and most patients are no longer with us 4 to 6 weeks of diagnosis,” Jenna Burton a veterinary oncologist told Ivanhoe.

In the trial, doctors combine two different types of chemotherapy drugs with a vaccine made from the patient’s own tumor.

“Using a patient’s own tumor to create a vaccine against it is something of interest to both vet and human oncologists,” Burton said.

Lab tests showed that when the vaccine was mixed with the drug Clodronate, it significantly enhanced tumor responses. The top three cancers in dogs are mast cell tumor, lymphoma and osteosarcoma–two of which also affect humans.

“Dogs are really good test subjects, a lot of people may not realize that dogs develop cancer just like people do,” Burton said.

She’s hoping looking at old drugs in a new way in animals, can give us a peak into the future of cancer treatment.

“There’s a lot of interest in ways we can manipulate the immune system in patients and dogs with cancer,” Burton concluded.

Saving our furry friends so they can save us.

Dogs that are not spayed are at least four times more likely to get mammary tumors. Lymphoma can affect any dog of any breed at any age. It accounts for 10 to 20 percent of all cancers in dogs.

Click here to Go Inside This Science and View Video or contact:

Sandy Van
Media Relations
sandy@prpacific.com

Inventors find way to insert chemo drugs into bones, offering new chances for cancer treatment

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Posted 26 Nov 2011 — by James Street
Category Drug delivery to bone, Osteosarcoma

BY BRANDON JOHANSSON Staff writer | Posted: Friday, November 25, 2011 11:16 am

AURORA | From its small office at the Fitzsimons Life Science District, MBC Pharma is imagining big things in the field of cancer treatment.

The startup, led by doctors Alexander Karpeisky and Shawn Zinnen, is developing a patented technology aimed at delivering cancer treatment drugs directly to the bone — a practice that has shown promise in recent animal trials.

The two doctors, who have each spent decades in research and the pharmaceutical business, said MBC’s technology uses bone-homing drugs called bisphosphonates that are chemically linked to cancer treatment drugs, to deliver cancer-fighting medicine directly to the bone, which can act as a broadcaster for the rest of the body.

Karpeisky said the company’s technology fills an important need because conventional chemotherapy cannot be concentrated on the bone in amounts that are pharmacologically relevant.

“The idea behind the compounds are actually very simple, elegant, and by that, genius, of course,” Karpeisky said with a laugh.

The company is based in the Fitzsimons Life Science District, just across East Montview Boulevard from the Anschutz Medical Campus. Zinnen said the location is ideal for the startup because it means quick access to research equipment on the campus, equipment that a young company could never hope to buy on its own.

MBC’s technology is targeted primarily at bone diseases, and Zinnen said recent research is proving that the bones are a crucial element in other diseases, too.

“The bone and the bone marrow in particular has a huge role throughout cancer development,” he said. “It can act as a sanctuary for tumor cells to reside before they go to metastasize other tissues.”

That means MBC’s technology could prove beneficial to treating several forms of cancer and other diseases, Zinnen said.

“People have started to say in the last couple years, bring drugs to the bone, that’s critical. Not just for killing cancer cells at the site, but it could be critical for the whole disease  path,” he said.

The company, which is still seeking investors, plans to expand its research into treating other diseases.

“We are possibly expanding. With investment, we know we will expand,” Zinnen said.

The company hopes to file an application with the FDA seeking permission to test the technology in humans within six months, Zinnen said. If everything goes as planned and the company gets the investments it needs, Zinnen said the product could be tested on humans within a year.

Like many biotech startups, MBC is trying to launch its technology in an environment that doesn’t have the venture capital opportunities it once did.

“If we were at this stage 10 years ago, we wouldn’t have trouble getting funds,” Zinnen said.

Zinnen and Karpeisky said the company is particularly excited about the future because of the success of recent animal trials.

Zinnen said MBC has tested its treatment on dogs with spontaneous osteosarcoma, and MBC’s treatment’s showed dramatic reduction in the size of tumors.

While the company can’t yet test the products in humans, Karpeisky said seeing MBC’s technology work so well in an animal was exciting.

“The fact that we see the very pronounced and significant biological activity in a natural disease in dogs is very, very encouraging,” he said.

But it’s not just that delivering drugs directly to the bone has clear treatment benefits, Zinnen said. The process also provides some relief for patients as they live with the grueling pain associated with tumors.

“Very quickly on our drugs, we had all the dogs tested have their pain go away,” Zinnen said. “For the owner, certainly for the dog, that’s a big deal.”

For more on the company, visit www.MBCpharma.com

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