02502: Precision Medicine for Canine Lymphoma
Grant Status: Closed
Abstract
The clinical response of dogs with lymphoma to multi-agent chemotherapy is highly variable. Although up to 85% of dogs respond initially, some relapse within weeks, while others enjoy remission times of two years. This heterogeneity in clinical response is in part explained by the recognition that "lymphoma" is not a single disease entity, but consists of different subtypes that can be characterized on a molecular level by mutations in specific genes. As in human medicine, it follows that different lymphoma subtypes, driven by different molecular mechanisms, may respond better to therapies that are specifically selected to inhibit the driver mechanisms within that patient's tumor. Recent work using sophisticated genetic sequencing tools (next-generation sequencing (NGS)) has begun to shed light on the different molecular subtypes of canine B cell lymphoma, and specific therapies aimed at targeting patient-specific driver genes and pathways are being developed. To enable targeted therapies to move into the clinic, a personalized diagnostic tool must be developed that can rapidly and cost-effectively determine the mutational profile of a patient's cancer allowing selection of the most effective drug for that patient. The investigators aim to develop a NGS diagnostic test that can be employed on standard biopsy samples to identify molecular drivers of a patient's lymphoma (personalized diagnostics), enabling the most appropriate targeted therapy to be selected for that patient. In addition, they aim to determine whether specific mutational profiles within canine lymphoma identified by their NGS panel, are predictive of clinical outcome.
Publication(s)
Wang, G., Wu, M., Durham, A. C., Mason, N. J., & Roth, D. B. (2021). Canine Oncopanel: A capture-based, NGS platform for evaluating the mutational landscape and detecting putative driver mutations in canine cancers. Veterinary and Comparative Oncology. https://doi.org/10.1111/vco.12746
Help Future Generations of Dogs
Participate in canine health research by providing samples or by enrolling in a clinical trial. Samples are needed from healthy dogs and dogs affected by specific diseases.
