No pet lover wants to hear this, but approximately 6 million dogs have been diagnosed with this disease. cancer Every year in America. Heartbreakingly, cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs. But don’t despair. Scientists are working on it.
A new study suggests that certain types of bacteria in the gut microbiome of dogs with cancer are somehow related to how long the dogs survive after immunotherapy treatment.
“Human studies have linked certain gut microbiome characteristics with clinical outcomes in cancer patients receiving immunotherapy, highlighting their potential as diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers,” the researchers said. Explained in published paper.
Can the same be said for dogs?
51 dog cancer patients The Bridge Animal Referral Center in the United States has enrolled an animal in a clinical trial. cancer immunotherapy vaccine It has already shown a lot of promise.
This vaccine is helps the immune system It fights tumor growth by inhibiting EGFR and HER2, two proteins that are overexpressed in some cancers. The hope is that the vaccine will allow dogs with cancer to spend a little more quality time with their loved ones, even if they won’t fully recover.
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However, a dog’s immune response does not occur in isolation. It’s microbes operating in a bustling city with their own agendas. as Decades of research Bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms that live in the intestinal tract have been shown to influence the immune response in an animal’s gut and throughout the body.
By analyzing rectal swabs from Bridge’s dogs and tracking the dogs’ survival outcomes after treatment, researchers identified 11 types of bacteria that may be influencing the vaccine’s success.
Four of these bacteria had longer survival times after treatment. Seven were associated with shorter survival. These relationships were maintained regardless of dog breed or cancer type.
This suggests that dogs’ intestinal bacteria may regulate immune responses to cancers other than intestinal cancer. osteosarcoma (a type of bone cancer) or angiosarcoma (cancer of blood vessels).
The study did not explore the mechanisms by which these bacteria actually affect the results in any way. This will be a topic for future research.
“Our study is a first step toward using the gut microbiome as a tool to predict prognosis and manipulate cancer. It can be used not only in dogs, but also potentially as a therapeutic model in humans.” say Natalia Shulzhenko studies host-microbiota interactions at Oregon State University.
Although this research and immunotherapy treatments in general are at a very early stage, the results of this study suggest that microbial treatments such as: probiotics or fecal transplant May supplement dog cancer vaccines.
Related: Scientists say breakthrough cancer vaccine for dogs is ‘truly revolutionary’
“In the future, microbiome swab analysis could help predict how well a dog will respond to cancer treatment,” Shulzhenko says. say.
“This will allow pet owners and veterinarians to make more informed decisions about their care. And now that we know that specific bacteria are involved in survival, we can explore ways to ‘fix’ a dog’s gut microbiome to make vaccines more effective and help dogs live longer.”
This study veterinary oncology.