Researchers developing antibody treatment for canine cancer
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Scientists hope to create a more gentle and targeted treatment option for canine cancer.
US researchers have employed some unlikely collaborators to assist them in the development of a new canine cancer treatment.
Scientists at Oregon State University (OSU) are studying llamas and alpacas to develop immunotherapies for canine cancers based on nanobodies.
Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation are currently the main methods of tackling canine cancer, but these involve numerous trips to the veterinary hospital and dogs requiring sedation.
Through this new OSU treatment, scientists hope to create a more gentle and targeted treatment option for canine cancer, similar to how immunotherapeutics are used in human cancer patients.
Just as how pet owners with diabetic animals inject them with insulin, the plan is for it to be given regularly at home via a subcutaneous injection.
Dan Mourich, senior OSU research associate and the molecular biologist on the research team, commented: “It’s not a drug like chemotherapy where it’s a toxin. You’re actually recruiting the body’s natural immune response for clearing out transformed cells — for instance, a tumour — and then it kills them.”
In the study, scientists injected a protein found in canine tumours into the alpacas and llamas, triggering their immune systems to produce antibodies.
The researchers then screened a “genetic library” of the resultant antibodies to determine which were most effective at binding and blocking tumours from interacting with that protein on dogs’ cytotoxic killer T-cells, the cells responsible for fighting cancer.
Mourich explained: “Killer T-cells are essentially the smallest scalpel you can have. They identify the cancer cell, remove that cell and leave healthy tissue alone. They’re so precise that you can utilize them to go and eliminate all the little pieces of tumour around the body.”
The team has recently received a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation Partnership for Innovation to move the project forward. The funding will enable them to develop their clinical candidate and establish a production method for the treatment, after which they can hold a clinical trial to test its effectiveness.
“The efficacy of immune-based therapeutics has already been tested in the human clinic for cancer and other diseases, but we’re not going to take human drugs and try to adapt them to the dog,” Mourich said. “We’re going to make the dog drug that does the same thing.”
Veterinary practices are being urged to help owners safely dispose of any unused and expired pet medicines - not just antibiotics - during November's Animal Medicines Amnesty. 
