Current Human Research May (Hopefully will!)
Benefit Animals
Monoclonal
antibodies are not new. There has been research on this topic since the
1980's and 90's. Yet treating cancer through the use of these little
warriors that target the bad cells and kill them (or
 mark
them for the body's own immune system to kill) is all over the news
these days. Pharmaceutical companies, researchers and scientists seem to
be abuzz, and I mean recently, like--like right now.
We did a Google
"News" search for "monoclonal antibodies."
"News" searches turn up only items that have appeared in the last
few months or so. Our search returned 403 items.
So,
what are monoclonal antibodies, and what are their implications in the
world of veterinary oncology?
Chemotherapy
drugs typically attack all the cells, normal and cancerous alike.
Since cancer cells are newer, and generally weaker than normal cells,
the chemical does more damage to the cancer cells than the good ones.
Certain
treatments, however, target the cancer cells, leaving the good
cells totally unharmed. These treatments usually carry considerably fewer
side effects than most chemo drugs. Monoclonal antibodies are in this
category.
Cells--all
cells--have protein "markers" on their surface. These markers
are called "antigens." Antigens act like identifiers of the
cells. When a monoclonal antibody comes along it recognizes that these
markers are
 indicating
a certain kind of cancer cell, and attaches itself to the specifically
marked cell. This can cause the cell to self-destruct, or can act as a
signal to the body's immune system to attack it. Basically the antibody
is saying, "Hey guys, over here! Come and get this one!"
Monoclonal
antibodies are used to fight several types of cancer. Lately there seems
to be a flurry of success in using them against human lymphoma,
notably non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The most popular monoclonal drug is
Rituxan. But there are others, and still others under current
development.
We have a
neighbor, a woman in her eighties, with a history of NHL. She recently
had a relapse. She was told that the chemo she had been given in the
past would no longer be effective. She was given monoclonal antibody
therapy, and went into total remission in a matter of days.
Of
course, animals and people are different. But not all that
different. We don't see much activity currently in the veterinary world
in this area. There was some work done at Cornell University over a
decade ago, but it seems to us that nothing much is happening today.
We predict
this will change. Human and animal
medicine are similar, if not parallel universes. What begins in one
often affects the other.
With canine
NHL, something we're particularly familiar with, typical chemotherapy
drugs lose effectiveness in time, as a dog's body becomes resistant. We
understand there is some tendency for dogs to develop some
resistance to M-AB's as well. But surely targeted treatments, such as
M-AB therapy stand a better chance overall than the "poisons"
that attack all cells indiscriminately.
We
hope to see the veterinary community start to notice some of the
extremely encouraging news out of the human medicine community.
We would love to know if any veterinary oncologists/ scientists are
currently into into this type of therapy.
Here are some
references on monoclonal antibodies:
Recent Stories From The Media
Those cloned mules reveal insights into certain kinds of
cancer
Through cloning
research, they may have discovered a link to slowing or stopping
certain forms of cancer...
full
story...
Cats emerging as model for human disease research
For scientists in the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at the National Cancer Institute at Frederick, genes are the cat's meow.
The Cat Genome Project studies wild and domestic cats to develop the species as a
...
full
story...
The Raw Versus Processed Dog Food Debate
There is a
raging controversy about pet food, between people who want to feed their
dogs "raw" meat and those who believe processed food is best.
Raw food would be similar to food dogs would get in the wild but others
believe raw food is killing pets and they say...
full story...
MRI and Chemo all for Fluffy
Diesel, a Neapolitan
mastiff, and his owner Klaus Berne were "two peas in a pod,"
Berne's wife, Shannon McNeil, says. "They were inseparable. "Diesel
started having seizures when he was 2. After some initial tests, a
veterinarian suggested he get an MRI. The cost? More than ...
full story...
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targeting
cancer cells
Last
month we announced a contest to our readers. We asked for emails on the
subject of limiting vaccinations in dogs. The winner would be drawn at
random from copies of the printed emails. 
the
dangers of vaccinations. We're convinced, more and more, that not
vaccinating at all is preferable to vaccinating too much. Over
and over again, we hear of dogs and cats that were never
vaccinated beyond their first puppy shots, or never at all, and
never had any major health problems in their entire (long) lives.
of
you have been subscribers from the very beginning--
