Man's "Best Friend" Might Help Cure Mankind's Worst Diseases

Keith Randall : May 25, 2012
Texas A & M News

"We think a major breakthrough is possible in the years to come, and again, our ultimate goal is to see if what we do is successful in dogs, it can also be successful in humans." -Jonathan Levine

The following are excerpts from a lengthy report out of A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences:

Dogs are among the best animals when it comes to providing models for better medical treatments in humans, and with more than 77 million dogs in the United States alone, it's another way the human-animal bond has become closer than anyone had ever dreamed. Researchers at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences are looking into ways how dogs—and several other animal types—can provide a variety of medical benefits to people, ranging from bone cancer studies to spinal cord injuries and others.

"Dogs can be ideal models to study," says Theresa Fossum, director of the Texas A&M Institute for Preclinical Studies. "This is especially true when it comes to certain types of cancer. Cancers in dogs, such as bone cancer, lymphoma and many other types of tumors, are almost identical to those same kinds found in humans and they tend to develop faster and run their course quicker, so it's an ideal way to see if a certain therapy will work. Dogs also tend to be better predictors of how new cancer drugs and medical devices can work. By studying cancer treatments in dogs, we can come up with better and more improved ways to treat cancer in humans and animals." (Heather Wilson-Robles and her team administer chemotherapy to a dog/Tamu Times)

Bone cancer in dogs, Fossum explains, is almost identical to human bone cancer. To get a big picture of just how the disease forms and progresses in dogs, Fossum has helped to create the Texas Veterinary Cancer Registry, a database of treatment information.

"We want to get the word out to dog owners that this service is available and it can help their pet and quite possibly, their next door neighbor one day," she adds. "There is no charge to register your dog and we encourage pet owners to do this. The information we get can be very useful in canine treatments.

"People may not know it, but it costs $3 billion and up for a drug to be created and tested in many trials before it is offered to the public. With more information, we believe it's possible to cut those drug development costs way down."

Oncology specialist Heather Wilson-Robles said, "In many cases, the cancers we see in dogs are almost identical to those in humans, so dogs are a great predictor for us," she explains. "For example, bone cancer in children and dogs is very similar—it results in about a 90 percent chance of death in a dog, and about 60 percent in children.

Jonathan Levine, assistant professor in the Small Animal Clinic, says: "It's like Thomas Edison and the thousands of attempts he made before he got the light bulb to work. With dogs, spinal cord injuries are much like those in people—the damage is the same, the MRIs we do on both look pretty much the same, and on and on.

"In the last 10 to 15 years, there has been very limited success in treating these types of injuries. But we think a major breakthrough is possible in the years to come, and again, our ultimate goal is to see if what we do is successful in dogs, it can also be successful in humans."

To read the full report, click on the link provided.