Cancer Immunotherapy

Is there an alternative treatment effective in animals?

Just like in humans, pet cancer is essentially a failure in the animal’s immune system. The body’s healing systems are unable to actually eliminate the cells with damaged DNA, and this ends up with them growing uncontrollably and spreading to other parts.

The new alternative

Till recently, much of the cancer treatment focus was on surgery radiation and most importantly, chemotherapy. However, two researchers from the opposite ends of the Pacific have been awarded for their work on launching cancer immunotherapy.

James Allison and Tasuku Honjo were credited with the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for their efforts in identifying the molecules that act as brakes on the immune system.

In their immune checkpoint therapy, Allison and Honjo are being heralded as bringing a new era to immunological defenses against cancer. Their research findings would see their immune checkpoint therapy directly target the immune cells around the tumor and make them powerful. In return, the patient’s immune cells get to attack the cancer elements and hopefully control the disease.

In a typical treatment situation’s the immune system would seek out and destroy the mutated cells. However, cancer is outright complex and often hides from the immune attacks. The scientists would discover possible mechanisms that would mobilize the immune system to attack the cancer cells first instead of attacking the normal tissues.

Since their groundbreaking work on the complex immune system, Allison and Kojo’s research has paved way for a class of new cancer drugs that are already dramatically saving lives in their use. Already the resultant drugs, checkpoint inhibitors, have been found to produce remarkable results in treating renal cancer, lung cancer, and melanoma.  

Can it work for pets?

Since studies do show immune therapy working for human cancer cases, there is every chance that pets can also experience the benefits of the new discovery. Currently, veterinarian studies are underway to really find out whether the use of immunotherapy can work for pet cancers. As of now, there is no conclusive evidence as to whether the method can work for pets, but chances do seem to favor future incorporation of the mechanism to treat terrible pet cancers.

Conclusion

Although cancer immunotherapy has been found not to work for everyone, the innovative treatment is quite intriguing and a game-changer for vet medicine. Hopefully, in the future, we will seek to harness more and help fight cancer with innovative methods.

Sources: AVMA, Nobel Prize, Cancer.gov