In This Issue
Sentinels for Cancer
New cancer centre, research network aim to improve treatment in pets and people
BY ANDREW VOWLES
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| Profs. Brenda Coomber, Biomedical Sciences, and Paul Woods, Clinical Studies, are co-directors of U of G's new Institute for Comparative Cancer Investigation. Photo by Martin Schwalbe |
A new U of G institute for treating and studying cancer in pets will help researchers and clinicians learn more about how to tackle the disease in people as well, says Prof. Brenda Coomber, Biomedical Sciences, co-director of the Institute for Comparative Cancer Investigation (ICCI).
Launched this summer, the institute — the only one at a Canadian university — will provide cancer care for companion animals and enable U of G researchers to study the disease in animals and humans alike. The institute will be directed jointly by Coomber and clinical studies professor Paul Woods.
The ICCI will include an expanded and revamped Animal Cancer Care Centre for diagnosis, treatment, teaching and clinical research within the OVC Teaching Hospital. It will also involve a virtual network of more than 30 cancer researchers from five colleges across campus working with collaborators at other institutions in southern Ontario and beyond.
“We already have on campus a large number of faculty interested in cancer,” says Coomber, who has studied tumour biology at Guelph for more than 15 years.
She says companion animals offer benefits beyond conventional rodent models. Many of the same kinds of cancer affect both people and pets — especially dogs — in similar ways, including disease development and spread.
“These similarities make them a very good model for human disease,” she says.
More important, pets arriving at the OVC hospital for diagnosis or treatment display actual clinical signs and disease progression. Real-life cases and conditions are often more useful than experimental animal models, in which scientists induce single genetic or chemical changes under artificial conditions, says Coomber.
While acknowledging the advances made by scientists and clinicians through studying rodents, she says: “I think a lot of cancer research has become lost in translation from mice to humans.”
The institute's cancer care centre will provide diagnostics with advanced imaging and treatment involving surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and client counselling. Renovations to expand the OVC clinic and accommodate new equipment will be supported by a five-year, $10-million fundraising campaign now under way.
Most of that funding is expected to come through the OVC Pet Trust Fund, which earlier supported purchase of a radiation unit and an MRI for the teaching hospital.
About one-third of visits to OVC's small-animal clinic involve cancer referrals, says Woods. The new institute will help raise awareness of cancer in animals and improve prospects for patients and clients, he says. “If your cat or dog has cancer, it's not a death sentence. There are things we can do.”
He recently undertook clinical trials on a melanoma vaccine for dogs based on gene therapy developed by cancer researchers at McMaster University. He's now analyzing the results of that study.
“Melanoma in dogs is similar to melanoma in people,” says Woods, who last spring completed vet oncology board exams with the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. “If we can show the therapy works well in dogs, it could transfer to people.”
Within the ICCI's research network, investigators from OVC and across campus will study various aspects of cancer, including tumour biology, nutritional influences, drug interactions, palliative care and counselling, and ethics.
Scientists will also look at environmental aspects of cancer, using companion animals to study human and environmental health concerns and probably involving U of G's recently established Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses.
“Dogs can be used as watchdogs — they can be sentinels for cancer,” says Coomber. “You're never able to predict where a solution will come from. Much of what we hope to learn will be relevant to any cancer.”
The Guelph researchers plan to work with other veterinary cancer clinics, allowing clinicians to share information and reducing the need to transport animals to OVC for clinical research.
A number of private practices in Canada offer oncology services to clients. In the United States, similar animal cancer centres exist at Michigan State University, Colorado State University and Cornell.