k9mania
03-24-2009, 01:45 AM
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, March 23 (HealthDay News) -- Joe Bauer got the call on a Friday afternoon.
A 10-year-old bichon frise named Oscar had developed anal sac adenocarcinoma, a particularly virulent cancer in dogs, and had been given only three months, at best, to live. The dog's owners, from Milford, Mass., were heartbroken and planned to have Oscar put down the next day.
USN.load('Loomia');
Instead, Bauer, who at the time was a staff scientist at the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Hematology & Oncology Molecular Therapeutics, shipped an experimental cancer drug free-of-charge to Oscar's veterinarian -- essentially enrolling Oscar in a clinical trial that could end up benefitting not only suffering dogs but humans as well.
Treating dogs as a prelude to finding new cancer drugs for humans is an idea that's catching on.
"Dogs are benefiting more and more as [people] recognize the value of studying new cancer therapies -- not just drugs -- in dogs," said Dr. Ann E. Hohenhaus, a staff veterinarian and board-certified dog/cat oncologist at the Animal Medical Center in New York City. "There are a couple of reasons why the dog is so good."
For one thing, the mice usually studied in cancer research are genetically bred to develop tumors. Dogs, like humans,
See rest of article:
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/03/23/dogs-help-in-hunt-for-new-cancer-drugs.html
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, March 23 (HealthDay News) -- Joe Bauer got the call on a Friday afternoon.
A 10-year-old bichon frise named Oscar had developed anal sac adenocarcinoma, a particularly virulent cancer in dogs, and had been given only three months, at best, to live. The dog's owners, from Milford, Mass., were heartbroken and planned to have Oscar put down the next day.
USN.load('Loomia');
Instead, Bauer, who at the time was a staff scientist at the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Hematology & Oncology Molecular Therapeutics, shipped an experimental cancer drug free-of-charge to Oscar's veterinarian -- essentially enrolling Oscar in a clinical trial that could end up benefitting not only suffering dogs but humans as well.
Treating dogs as a prelude to finding new cancer drugs for humans is an idea that's catching on.
"Dogs are benefiting more and more as [people] recognize the value of studying new cancer therapies -- not just drugs -- in dogs," said Dr. Ann E. Hohenhaus, a staff veterinarian and board-certified dog/cat oncologist at the Animal Medical Center in New York City. "There are a couple of reasons why the dog is so good."
For one thing, the mice usually studied in cancer research are genetically bred to develop tumors. Dogs, like humans,
See rest of article:
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/03/23/dogs-help-in-hunt-for-new-cancer-drugs.html