Dog Cancer Remedy

:pray: I am hoping this vaccine works. It would save so many pets and people.



Dog Cancer Remedy

Cancer not only affects humans, it's the number one killer of adult dogs.

Veterinarians are testing a new cancer vaccine for man's best friend. If successful, it may eventually help humans battle the disease.

Coco is a 13 year old Pomeranian with malignant melanoma. Callie, a 7 year old Golden Retriever, has the same cancer.

Veterinary oncologist Mary Kay Klein has been treating both dogs with an experimental canine melanoma vaccine.

"Our family just loves her. And we wouldn't know what to do without her," said Callie’s owner Gene DiLuigi.

DiLuigi drives seven hours to get Callie treated.

Tests have gone so well that the vaccine was recently approved for commercial use in dogs.

The hope is that Callie's success story will turn into a cure for human cancer.

"Dogs are very much like people. They tend to be the same age proportionately as you and I are when they get these diseases. The diseases look the same underneath the microscope," said Dr. Klein.

DiLuigi is excited about the possibility the vaccine may have on humans.

"Going from the status of prognosis poor in December of 2006 to in great shape 5 months later, I don't know what a better testament to a great vaccine would be," said DiLuigi.

Right now, only cancer vets are approved to use the dog vaccine.

The next step, however, is to make it available to all vets. Work on a similar treatment for people is ongoing.

Wow ! I hope this works , can you imagine how many dogs they could save (and humans) Too bad it wasn't available a year ago :sad:

It has a lot to go through before it is approved for humans and not all is yet known for canines either but I too hope it is a success! (as both an oncologist and someone who has just been thru several protocols of chemo for melanoma!)

That said, it is along the line of a lot of similar research being conducted throughout North America - so it is not that unusual, just that it may be ahead in clinical trials because it is being tried on dogs.

It's a "xenogeneic vaccine," ie, it takes biological material from one species — in this case human DNA — and injects it into another. Vaccine tests administered to humans at Sloan-Kettering contained mouse melanoma-cell DNA.

It makes the body recognize cancer as a foreign entry so the body acts to eliminate it. The same strategy we have used in dogs is now working in people as well but clinical trials in people have more hops to jump thru. Also, this project moved fast because of various other factors - logistics (NYC facilities (Sloan Kettering is one!) are only blocks apart) friendship between the vet and human researchers. An example of the small things meaning so much! :)

:fingerscr :fingerscr :fingerscr