Tumors similar in humans and dogs

Cancer therapies for dogs help people

02/06/2013

In humans and dogs similar tumors can occur. For cancer research, the sick animals represent a great opportunity to develop new therapies that benefit people as well.

Tests on cancer sick dogs
Scientists are currently developing new therapies for the four-legged friends, with the help of cancer-affected dogs, which in some cases can also help people. The news magazine "FOCUS" reports that comparative oncology („Cancer research for humans and animals“), with which American and Canadian researchers deal, has already yielded first positive results. For example, a painkiller is currently being used in clinical trials with humans, which was initially successfully used on cancer-stricken dogs. The doctors are also hopeful in an experimental treatment of brain tumors, which would have proven in the four-legged friends. This procedure is currently being tested on patients with glioblastoma, the most common malignant brain-related tumor in adults.

Similarities of man and dog
In the course of their lifetime, about a quarter of all dogs suffer from cancer, often in the same forms as humans. Veterinarian Nicola Mason of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia explains: „The animals spontaneously develop cancerous diseases as we do.“ In contrast, the tumors in rodents, which are commonly used in cancer research, need to be artificially induced only with serious intervention. This reduces the reliability of those tests. The cancer therapies that have been successful in mice fail about half in humans. The work of the researchers was also facilitated by the fact that the genetic material of the dog was decrypted, because the genetic data can now determine whether a human and dog cancers are identical. Their tumors are often similar in their genetics and molecular biology. And both often respond to the same therapies. Dogs have been used for cancer research for a long time, not only when they are ill themselves. For example, the four-legged friends in Austria had been used for a study to sniff out cancer. According to the doctors, the dogs would have achieved a hit rate of 70 percent.

Effectiveness in dogs faster detectable
The researchers are currently working on tests for diseases that are particularly common in dogs, such as bone sarcoma and various forms of lymphoma. As cancer progresses faster in the quadrupeds, the effectiveness of a therapy in much less time than in humans can be seen. Mason explains: „In cancer research, five dog years correspond to about one human year.“ So it is true that if a dog survives another year thanks to a treatment, this corresponds to five more years in humans. Of course, in addition to the cancer researchers and dog friends see the new branch of science positive. So Rhonda Hovan of the American Golden Retriever Club said: „Dogs have been exploited mostly as experimental animals“ and now would „both types“ benefit. In the US and Canada, twenty university hospitals are currently working in the rapidly expanding area of ​​the United States „comparative cancer research“. The work is done by the US Government „National Cancer Institute“ coordinated. The veterinarians and human physicians of the University of Vienna are the ones in Europe who are dedicated to the new field of work. (Sb)

Picture: Rike