Dog Slobber May Hold Cancer Clues
Group Studying DNA, Rare Cancers

POSTED: 7:20 am MDT April 15, 2010
UPDATED: 7:25 am MDT April 15, 2010


Wet licks from your dog may hold more than affection. The DNA could lead to treatments for cancers in dogs and people, according to a news release from the Translational Genomics Research Institute and the Van Andel Research Institute.

The organizations have created a program meant to discover more about cancer.

"Rare diseases in humans also show up in dogs. By studying the DNA of canines, we expect to more quickly discover the genomic causes of disease and more quickly find ways to better treat dogs and people," said Dr. Mark Neff, director of the new program.

The group said it will collect saliva, blood and tumor samples from many breeds of dogs.

Nearly half of all dogs who live past age 10 die from cancer, researchers said.

The work is supported by a two-year, $4.3 million federal grant to the Canine Hereditary Cancer Consortium. It also gets $1 million in grants from PetSmart and Hill's Pet Nutrition.

Dr. Jeffrey Trent said that it is difficult to study rare cancers in people, because there is insufficient data. But by studying similar types of cancers more prevalent in dogs, researchers should be better able to help those who currently have little hope.

"There's no question that you are doubly cursed if you get a rare cancer. You may have a very difficult disease course, and you have very little information about how to guide the physician, and what treatment would be best. For some of these rare cancers, we don't even have consensus on what the best treatments might be," Trent said.

The study will focus on sarcomas, those cancers that originate in the connective tissues such as bone, cartilage and fat.

Trent said the work is like the effort to learn everything about the human genome.

"The Human Genome Project provided a new playbook for biomedical research and patient care," Trent said. "As we begin to catalog the dog genome, we have the opportunity to really understand a number of the problems that afflict the dog, but also a number of possible health solutions for people."