Commentary
Article
Comparative Oncology: Advances in Cancer Care from Pets to Humans
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Dogs share a number of cancers with humans, including melanoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, and osteosarcoma.
Cancer is the second most common cause of death worldwide, with a global economic burden estimated at $25 trillion over the next 3 decades.1 This burden continues to rise each year due to population aging and increased exposure to risk factors such as obesity, alcohol use, and air pollution. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) predicts a 77% increase in cancer cases by 2050, equivalent to approximately 35 million new cancer cases.2
Dogs serve as ideal models for comparative oncology | Image credit: andreaobzerova | stock.adobe.com
Despite the pressing need, the development of effective treatments faces significant challenges. A 2017 study of 10 approved cancer drugs priced the median cost of single-agent development at $648 million.3 Moreover, oncological trials take 14 to 18 months longer than non-oncological trials at each of the 3 clinical phases, with total drug development time averaging 12 years.4 At the end of this costly and time-consuming process, anticancer drugs suffer from a 95% failure rate, and only 30% of approved drugs extend patient survival beyond 2.5 months.5
One promising approach for improving innovation lies in comparative oncology—the study of cancer in companion animals to advance both veterinary and human medicine. By investigating naturally occurring cancers in companion animals, researchers can gain valuable insights into cancer development and progression, streamline clinical trial approaches, and improve treatment protocols.
Canines as Key Models in Cancer Research
Dogs, in particular, serve as ideal models for comparative oncology. Dogs share a number of cancers with humans, such as melanoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, and osteosarcoma, while also spontaneously developing these cancers in strikingly similar metastatic patterns.6 Canine immune systems are functionally similar to their human counterparts, particularly when it comes to immune activation.7 As molecular profiling continues to gain popularity, veterinarians have also observed increasing commonalities including point mutations, gross gene alterations, expression profiles, and cytological and histological factors.8
Additionally, dogs uniquely face the same environmental conditions as humans, including exposure to carcinogens in air, water, or food. These shared physiological and environmental factors are absent in many traditional subjects bred for research, such as mice, thus lending insights unavailable through lab-based animal models of cancer. Studying naturally occurring diseases in dogs also offers a unique ethical advantage over traditional experimental models. Researchers can avoid inducing diseases artificially by leveraging naturally occurring cases, thereby aligning more closely with ethical principles while still achieving robust and clinically relevant findings.
Cross-Species Benefits of Comparative Oncology
Several successful collaborative research initiatives have already demonstrated the immense value of comparative oncology. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has spearheaded efforts through its Comparative Oncology Program, which conducts clinical oncology trials in dogs to assess novel therapies. Another such initiative is the NCI and Cancer Moonshot-supported Pre-Medical Cancer Immunotherapy Network for Canine Trials, a collaborative network seeking to develop more effective immunotherapy treatments and uncover insights into response and response prediction through correlative biomarker discovery.
Canine models play a pivotal role in advancing treatments for specific types of cancer. Osteosarcoma, for example, develops in young children at a relatively low rate, which significantly impacts researchers’ ability to develop novel therapies. In dogs, the disease develops at a much higher incidence rate and is relatively indistinguishable from its human counterpart. A recent comparative oncology clinical trial successfully stabilized or shrunk tumors in half of canine osteosarcoma participants, precipitating a similar phase 1 clinical trial in humans.9
The canine melanoma vaccine (Oncept; Boehringer Ingelheim), a DNA-based tyrosinase-targeting treatment, presents another significant and historic success story in comparative oncology. Although initially focused on human melanoma, researchers shifted to canines in the early 2000s after encountering logistical difficulties in human clinical trials. The study treated approximately 500 canine melanoma patients and developed the first cancer vaccine approved in the US. These results strongly advocated for immunotherapy as a viable treatment option in humans and accelerated the development of an immunotherapy vaccine for human prostate cancer.10
Although comparative oncology studies aspire to make translational breakthroughs for human treatments, our canine companions also benefit significantly. The field encourages novel therapies for canine cancer, such as the osteosarcoma treatment protocol and canine melanoma vaccine, that may otherwise go unfunded and undeveloped. New treatment options that would be prohibitively expensive for pet owners are also made available through clinical trials, giving dogs access to cutting-edge care.
Precision medicine is one area of the veterinary field that has seen significant growth through comparative oncology. For example, ImpriMed is combining artificial intelligence and live cancer cell analytics to provide personalized treatment options for pets, using data-driven insights to improve remission rates and survival time. Notably, dogs with relapsed B-cell lymphoma that received AI-driven predictions experienced an extended median survival time of 160 to 187 days, which corresponds to more than 2.5-times longer survival than the patients treated without the predictive information, according to a recent study published in Frontiers in Oncology.11 This use of precision medicine is intended to enhance treatment efficacy and improve the quality of life for canine patients and, soon, their owners, because the technologies developed for canine cancers have been successfully applied to develop human cancer precision medicine services.
ImpriMed’s human precision medicine services combine ex vivo drug sensitivity testing and machine learning, both of which directly leverage insights from canine oncology to accelerate predictive model development. As the company continues gathering data and refining the AI algorithms, they anticipate even greater accuracy and impact in both human and veterinary oncology. This cross-species approach not only ensures that best practices are shared across disciplines but also enables human cancer research to benefit from the depth of data provided by naturally occurring canine cancers, further driving progress in comparative oncology. Ultimately, the insights gained from this approach create a cycle of mutual benefit, accelerating advancements in both human and veterinary medicine.
The Future of Comparative Oncology
As the field of comparative oncology continues to evolve, it is poised to move into more mainstream, commercial applications. Currently, most comparative oncology studies receive funding from academic grants, with results later used to help inform drug development. Animal health and biotech companies present the opportunity for a self-funded model, accelerating technology development beyond the confines of conventional academic studies.
Comparative oncology represents a promising yet underutilized approach to advancing cancer care for both pets and humans. By studying cancer in companion animals like dogs, researchers can gain critical insights unavailable through traditional preclinical models, potentially eliminating or reducing some of the vast challenges facing anticancer drug development. As the field continues to grow, comparative oncology will become an essential tool in the fight against cancer, providing streamlined, effective solutions that benefit both 4-legged and 2-legged patients alike.
REFERENCES
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