When it comes to dog years, cancer can have a big impact. Dogs 10 years and older have a 50% chance of dying from cancer, and human oncologists are studying the disease in canines in the hopes of benefiting both animals and humans.
Thanks to its unique partnership with the country’s top-ranked UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of the few institutions to study what the National Cancer Institute (NCI) calls comparative oncology.
Now, UC Davis has received the first NCI grant in the country to fund a comparative oncology training program, which was launched on August 1, 2020.
The Ruth L. Kirschstein Institutional National Research Service Award T32 training grant supports institutions developing or enhancing research career development opportunities for pre- and post-doctoral research fellows. In this first-of-its-kind federal grant, more than $2 million has been awarded to UC Davis for a five-year program to train the next generation of comparative oncology researchers.
Curing cancer in people and pets will take collaboration
When the family dog gets cancer, it can feel as devastating as when any loved one is battling the disease. Giving these companion animals the benefit of leading-edge research and therapeutics — including clinical trials — not only helps pets live longer, but also supports the development of new therapies for both dogs and humans.
UC Davis program directors Xinbin Chen, Michael Kent and Robert Canter sought the training program grant and say tackling complex cancers across animal and human species presents a rare opportunity for both veterinarians and physicians to play a crucial role in basic and translational research. The goal is to recruit and retain these clinician-scientists to help address a national need for more comparative oncology researchers.
Recruiting diverse training candidates is a major focus
The program will leverage diversity and inclusion recruitment programs at UC Davis as it seeks to draw candidates from underrepresented student populations.
“Oncologists who treat humans and oncologists who treat companion animals have a lot to learn from each other, especially when they come from diverse backgrounds,” said Chen, who teaches at both the veterinary school and the medical school. “We desperately need more research in this area because we think we can solve some of the toughest hurdles facing cancer researchers if we join forces.”
Kent, who specializes in veterinary oncology and directs the UC Davis Center for Companion Animal Health, says cancer found in dogs is very similar to cancer found in humans.
“Dogs have coevolved with humans,” said Kent. “That means they have been exposed to the same environment as humans, including some of the same carcinogens.”
With intact immune systems similar to those of people, dogs can benefit from many of the same cancer treatment breakthroughs as humans, including immunotherapies that work by helping the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells.
“Treating canines with cancer as well as humans facing the devastating disease allows us to take a more holistic approach as we compare immunological responses and the success of various therapies. And, dogs deserve to benefit from cancer trials at UC Davis, too,” said Canter, who is a surgical oncologist at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Canter said comparative oncology represents the best of both medical worlds and is crucial to advancing the understanding of tumor biology, speeding development of therapies, and giving hope to patients — whether they are people or pets.
