Current Research Advances in Veterinary Medicine

BY CAROLINE COILE

New Osteosarcoma Vaccine Extends Survival Time

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone tumor in dogs. The prognosis for long-term survival is poor, with less than 18 months survival even with tumor removal and chemotherapy. Now a new vaccine used in conjunc- tion with these therapies appears to significantly increase survival time.

Median survival of dogs with primary tumor removal and chemotherapy is 423 days. Researchers evaluated 18 dogs with tumor removal and chemotherapy (four doses of carboplatin) followed by the osteosarcoma vaccine every three weeks for three doses. The median survival rate of the vaccine-treated dogs was 956 days. Most side effects were minor, and included lethargy, diarrhea, and fever.

Canine Osteosarcoma Vaccine, Live Listeria Vector (AT-014), has been granted a conditional license by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Center for Veterinary Biologics. The new vaccine will be available at approximately two dozen veterinary oncology practices in the United States. Dogs receiving the vaccine will be part of an extended field study of its efficacy.

Nicola J. Mason, BVetMed, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine was the principal investigator of the clinical trials. “We know that most of these dogs relapse with metastatic disease, so clearly cancer is left after chemotherapy,” she says. “And we were asking the question: Could this vaccine induce an immune response which would eliminate those remaining cancer cells?”

Short URL: http://caninechronicle.com/?p=139141

Posted by Alex on Feb 20 2018. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.