Projects

Canine Cancer Alliance focuses on advancing immunotherapy to help dogs with cancer.

The following studies are supported by your generous donations.

Prof. Mamula with Ranger who became cancer-free after his metastatic osteosarcoma was treated with the vaccine.

EGFR/HER2 Canine Cancer Vaccine

A clinical trial is open at ten locations for canine patients with osteosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma and TCC which are cancer types often associated with EGFR/HER2 overexpression. See the status page to find out which clinics are participating in the study. Please contact the clinic directly to find out the requirement and to request an appointment.

Learn more about the potential benefits of the vaccine including prevention of metastasis here.

Checkpoint Blockade Combination Therapy

Checkpoint Inhibitor treatments work by blocking the inhibitory signals that cancer cells use to evade detection by immune cells. This allows the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells more effectively. Checkpoint blockade has shown remarkable success in treating various types of cancer and has significantly improved human patient outcomes and survival rates, but is not yet available for dogs.

In this study, EGFR/PD-1 peptide vaccination will be evaluated. This combination therapy may reduce the immunosuppressive effects of the tumor and help extend survival times. The tumor microenvironment will be analyzed for the expression of key tumor and immune cell biomarkers. The study is a collaboration between Ohio State University and Yale University researchers.

Gut Microbiome and Cancer

With human patients, researchers can now correlate successful immunotherapy response to the patient's gut microbiome composition.

This study will analyze the gut microbiome from canine patients receiving immunotherapy treatments at multiple time points during their treatment. The ultimate goal is to to be able to help more cancer patients respond to immunotherapy and survive longer through modulation of the microbiome, for example, via diet change or with the help of fecal transplant.

This study is a collaborative effort between Oregon State University, Yale University and private clinics.

Fasting and Immune Modulation

Short term fasting can dramatically relieve the side effects in cancer patients - people ad dogs - undergoing chemotherapy. Cyclic fasting has also been shown to help activate the anti-tumorigenic immune response in human cancer patients. (See this summary). This is the first of a series of studies investigating impact of dietary intervention added to conventional or experimental therapy.

This study is a collaborative effort between Ohio State University and Oregon State University.

CAR-T Therapy for Solid Tumors

With CAR-T immunotherapy, the patient's T-cells are modified so that they can target cancer cells much more effectively. The potential of CAR-T therapy has been demonstrated in treating human blood cancers, but not in solid tumors or in canine patients.

This study is exploring how CAR-T therapy targeting B7H3 receptors might be used to treat solid tumors to help canine patients. A collaborative effort between Northwestern University and University of Illinois teams, the trial is now enrolling patients with hemangiosarcoma.

Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-T therapy works by modifying the immune cells called T cells (a type of white blood cell) to find and fight cancer much more effectively.

Nonspecific Immune Stimulating Therapy

The ongoing pilot trial is evaluating the efficacy of mycobacterial cell wall fraction (MCWF) - Immunocidin - in preventing metastasis of dogs with osteosarcoma and other aggressive solid tumors.

An additional new study for Transitional Cell Carcinoma (Bladder Cancer) canine patients, in collaboration with North Carolina State University, will begin enrolling patients in 2023.

After 1-year old Rigsby was diagnosed with fibrosarcoma, his vet began treating him with Immunocidin as part of a new study.

IL-12 Cytokine To Fight Solid Tumors

Cytokines are powerful molecules that are excreted by immune cells to turn up or turn off the immune system. But because of potential toxic side-effects, direct infusion of immune-stimulatory cytokines have not been used. A team has now figured out a new way to introduce IL-12 into tumors safely and to induce long-term memory to help prevent recurrence of cancer. This work is led by a collaborative team at Northwestern University and University of Missouri and is enrolling canine patients with high-grade soft tissue sarcoma.