According to recent research, brain tumors occurring in both humans and dogs share a
similar genetic composition.
In a study published earlier this week in the scholarly journal Acta Neuropathologica,
researchers from Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
(VMBS), Baylor College of Medicine, and Texas Children's Hospital noted similarities
between meningiomas, the most prevalent form of brain tumor in both humans and dogs.
Dr. Akash Patel, principal investigator at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research
Institute (Duncan NRI) at Texas Children's Hospital and associate professor of
neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine stated that "the discovery that naturally
occurring canine tumors closely resemble their human counterparts opens numerous
avenues for exploring the biology of these challenging tumors," according to Texas A&M.
"It also offers opportunities for researching and developing novel treatments applicable
to both humans and dogs," he continued.
Researchers examined 62 cases of canine meningiomas from 27 different dog breeds for
this study. The study was the "largest study to date of the gene expression profiles of
canine meningiomas," according to Texas A&M.
Dr. Tiemo Klisch, an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine and primary investigator at Duncan NRI, and Dr. Jonathan Levine, a professor at VMBS and chair of the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences (VSCS), also contributed to the study in addition to Patel. While Dr. Beth Boudreau, an assistant professor in VSCS, was described by Texas A&M as "a key collaborator,"
Gliomas, the second most frequent type of brain tumor in people and dogs, share genetic
similarities, according to earlier research by Levine, Boudreau, and other researchers at
the VMBS.
In a statement, Levine stated, "We ultimately agreed to provide Patel canine tumor
samples we had worked years and years to archive, to see if he could isolate the RNA,
which is not always easy to do." He was able to generate this extremely reliable data set,
which revealed a pattern structure resembling that of real cancers. Dr. Patel received
important clinical outcome data from our team as well, such as reactions to particular
medications.
In the future, although they can "take several years to plan and fund," researchers intend
to design clinical trials to advance their work, according to Texas A&M.
Levine remarked, "We're really interested in creating wins for both human and animal
medicine." "For instance, through clinical trials, we hope to provide dog owners with
access to therapy that is unavailable anywhere else in the world."
In addition, the researcher said, "that information will also inform the next step of human
trials."
Levine continued, "We already have all this genetic data that we can utilize to identify
what could make a good treatment, so that is one of the perks of this endeavor. We are
now well-positioned to work on part two thanks to part one.
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