ONCOLOGY
A Dog ’ s Chance
Could a new osteosarcoma treatment discovered by veterinary specialists work for humans ?
There ’ s not much difference between osteosarcoma in adolescent humans and osteosarcoma in dogs .
“ In terms of biological appearance , aggressiveness , difficulty to treat , canine and human osteosarcoma are remarkably similar ,” says pediatric oncologist Carrye Cost , MD .
And cure rates aren ’ t great — about 77 % in localized human cases *. In many relapsed cases , not much can be done .
At the Colorado State University School of Veterinary Medicine , one of the world ’ s preeminent and best-resourced centers for the research and treatment of canine osteosarcoma , researchers identified that metastatic disease is driven by inflammatory monocyte activity . And they identified a class of drugs with potential : angiotensin receptor blockers , or ARBs . Normally used for high blood pressure , ARBs can also block inflammatory monocyte migration .
“ When they looked at the ARB alone the results were not that exciting ,” says Dr . Cost . “ But when they combined it with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor , they started to see some stabilization and shrinking of canine osteosarcoma . That ’ s when they reached out to us .”
Part of what makes the research promising , says Dr . Cost , is that unlike in a lot of research involving animals , the canine cancers treated at CSU are spontaneous and naturally occurring .
“ These animals have an intact immune system and metabolism similar to humans ,” she observes . “ There ’ s a lot of correlation .”
Collaborating with both CSU and the University of Colorado School of Medicine , Dr . Cost and her team got a phase 1 clinical trial underway last year in adolescent and young adult patients with relapsed and refractory osteosarcoma . The ARB and the tyrosine kinase inhibitor are both already approved and on the market .
Depending on enrollment , the trial will most likely be open for another two years .• * Based on SEER data
8 | CHILDREN ’ S HOSPITAL COLORADO