2035: Transferrin Receptor Expression by Canine Brain Tumors
Grant Status: Closed
Grant Amount: $16,250
Natasha J Olby, VetMB PhD; North Carolina State University
July 17, 2000 - September 30, 2001
Sponsor(s): Golden Retriever Foundation
Breed(s): -All Dogs
Research Program Area: Oncology
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Abstract
Dogs that are not treated following diagnosis of a brain tumor survive an average of only two weeks. Treatment with either surgery and/or radiation can extend their survival to about ten months. Clearly there is a need for new approaches to treating brain tumors in dogs if survival is to be improved. In humans, malignant brain tumors are being treated successfully with toxins targeted specifically to a marker expressed by tumor cells: the transferrin receptor. In preliminary work, we have shown that untreated canine brain tumors also express this marker. The primary aim of this project is to establish whether brain tumors that have recurred following treatment with radiation or surgery still express the transferrin receptor. This information will allow us to determine whether transferrin receptor targeted toxins should be used as the primary form of treatment of brain tumors, or can be used to treat recurrent tumors following more conventional therapy. We hypothesize that brain tumors will express transferrin receptors at high levels after treatment and therefore that transferrin-linked therapy can be instituted in combination with more conventional therapy.Publication(s)
None at this time.
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