Research

Research is Critical to Our Practice

In addition to collecting data on our own patients, Veterinary Cancer Care’s staff continually monitors new developments in cancer research. Being informed of the most recent progress of veterinary cancer and innovative methods of treating and managing the disease is of tremendous benefit to our clients.

The field of cancer care in pets has grown immensely over the last two decades, and in recent years the specialty has published significant literature based on controlled and randomized therapeutic trials. Increasingly promising treatment research includes studies of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), antigiogenesis treatments and the possibility of gene therapy.

NSAID Therapy

While the mechanism of NSAIDs’ anti-tumor action is not completely understood at this point, aspirin, Indomethacin and Piroxicam are showing promise in the treatment of several cancers in pets.

Antiangiogenic Therapy

Angiogenesis is the development of new capillaries from preexisting blood vessels—a necessary step for tumors to establish themselves and grow. This process involves many complicated steps, but anti-angiogenic therapies have the potential to inhibit the growth of cancerous tumors by inhibiting this process. Other possible anti-angiogenic therapies include vascular targeting, which potentially could prevent endothelial tumor cells from developing drug resistance and thus improving the success of anti-cancer drugs. Other potential methods on the horizon include the use of matrix metalloproteinsases (MMPs) that potentially inhibit the formation of blood cells that lead to tumor growth.

Gene Therapy

Gene therapy is the introduction of genetic material into a host to correct a disease or biochemical deficiency. This is one of the newest areas of pharmacology and could potentially play an important role in developing new cancer treatments. However, research is still in its early stages, and further technical study is needed for gene therapy to become a major cancer treatment.

Intralesional Chemotherapy Clinical Trial

Intralesional chemotherapy is being used extensively at Veterinary Cancer Care. It can be effective in local control and can sometimes be beneficial in delaying metastatic disease. Although this treatment has been successful, it still remains investigational. Advantages compared to surgery or radiation are ease of administration, low risk of side effects, low cost and that subsequent treatments can be administered in the future if there is recurrence.

Intralesional chemotherapy is a clinical trial; results are yet to be published. Tumors most commonly treated are: Osteosarcoma, oral melanoma and other oral tumors, soft tissue sarcomas, vaccine sarcomas, mast cell tumor, and squamous cell tumors. This procedure is used palliatively to control pain, to prevent or delay recurrence of tumor, or to decrease the size of a tumor that has not been surgically removed. Intralesional chemotherapy is also referred to as intratumoral or local chemotherapy. Intralesional chemotherapy is the administration of cancer fighting drugs directly into the tumor, tumor site or adjacent tissues. The goal is to improve local tumor control by achieving high local chemotherapeutic drug concentrations while maintaining low plasma concentrations.

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