Dog Cancer and Vaccine

Posted by Joy Butler Jan 23, 2008

Dogs are not so different from humans in many ways. Now we learn that their cancer also looks, behaves and responds to treatment similarly According to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, a number of dogs with cancer have been enrolled by their owners in a vaccine study where veterinarians and human oncologists work together to find cures. Dogs work so well for the studies because they age faster than humans and results are seen sooner.

Genetic material is taken from the cancers and implanted in healthy infection-fighting b-cells outside the dog's body to train them to attack the malignancy. They are then injected back into the dog. Several dogs in the study are now cancer-free.

Human testing may be only two years away. One scientist said, “If we didn’t have this information that we’re learning from vaccinating people’s pets, we would still be studying the vaccine in laboratory dishes without a real hope of going forward in the near future.”

For the millions of humans and dogs diagnosed with cancer each year, this is good news.