This one is of interest to me as my dog Juno has osteosarcoma and had her leg amputated a year ago followed by chemo and is still doing well with no signs of a return after a year. Only 20% of dogs make it to 2 years but this example of a golden making it to 4 years now using listeria immunotherapy is amazing
Dogs diagnosed with cancer are enrolling in clinical trials that may lead to treatments for humans.
www.cbsnews.com
But there were trials in pet dogs of an experimental immunotherapy treatment for osteosarcoma that began in 2012, led by University of Pennsylvania professor and veterinarian Dr. Nicola Mason.
"This is listeria, causes food poisoning," Mason said. "This particular listeria has been genetically modified so that it is far less virulent."
Dr. Nicola Mason with Sandy
The listeria had also been modified to contain a specific protein -- called HER2 -- that's found on some osteosarcoma cells. Once injected into the dogs' bloodstream, the listeria awakened their immune systems, making them feel sick. It also triggered killer immune cells to patrol the body and destroy the cancerous cells.
Sandy, a 9-year-old golden retriever, joined a nationwide trial in 2018. She'd had her front leg amputated because of osteosarcoma. During the trial, Dr. Mason said, Sandy's immune system reacted to the listeria just as she'd hoped.
"Her body temperature started to increase, peaked around about four hours, and then started to drop down again," Dr. Mason said. "We sort of want to see that because it tells us that the immunotherapy is in fact stimulating her immune response, which is what we want to happen."
When Sandy was first diagnosed, her life expectancy with the standard care of amputation and chemotherapy was around a year. But that was four years ago and Dr. Mason said there's no sign of cancer.
Other results from the first listeria trial in pet dogs were encouraging too, showing the dogs "tolerated" the immunotherapy and that it "significantly increased duration of survival time." Those results were submitted to the Food and Drug Administration.
