Nearly a quarter of dogs will develop cancer in their lifetime. Of these, 20 per cent will be lymphoma cases.

Novel approach offers fresh hope for beloved family pets

Researchers from the University of Leicester have partnered up with Avacta Animal Health Ltd develop a novel electronic system for diagnosing the early stages of lymphoma in dogs, and for remission monitoring.  

The canine lymphoma blood test (cLBT) is the first its kind to monitor the remission status of a dog after chemotherapy.

The university team, led by Professor Alexander Gorban from the mathematics department, worked with experts from Avacta to develop technology for the differential diagnosis of canine lymphoma and remission monitoring.

The cLBT detects the levels of two biomarkers, the acute phase proteins Haptoglobin and C-Reactive Protein.

Having gathered a considerable library of biological samples,  Avacta tested the data by utilising the University of Leicester's leading statistical and data processing techniques. The team selected their approach by analysing clinical data and testing various machine learning methods.

Prof. Alexander Gorban said: “This was a very interesting project, and Avacta was a very dedicated, focused company, with clear goals and objectives. There were very important and useful ideas and concepts involved in the study, and it was a pleasure to know that our expertise as a department was needed and could be utilised through working alongside Avacta’s professional expertise.

“The project was very successful, and we would be very glad to welcome more partnerships of this type as it has also been very beneficial to the reputation of the University of Leicester’s Department of Mathematics. The project involved full academic and commercial success, which has included a full academic cycle as well as full software development, which makes it an incredibly diverse project to have worked on.”

Kevin Slater, chief scientific officer at Avacta Animal Health, said: “The collaboration we have with the University of Leicester’s Department of Mathematics is having a dramatic impact on the types of new tests that we can offer to vets and their owners.  We are already widening the application of multivariate analysis to other diseases which commonly affect our pets, and subsequently, this work could also have benefits to human health.”

The paper ‘Computational diagnosis and risk evaluation for canine Lymphoma’ by E.M. Mirkes, I. Alexandrakis, K. Slater, R. Tuli and A.N. Gorban has been published in the academic journal Computers for Biology and Medicine. 

Image (C) Avacta Animal Health Ltd.