The affectionate pit bull terrier had succumbed to an aggressive form of lymphoma, one of several cancer types shared by dogs and humans. Fornoff’s words fittingly describe the sentiment among a team of UC Davis clinicians who believe our four-legged companions deserve the best available care, and also champion the idea that advances in cancer treatment for pets will ultimately benefit human patients, as well.
The roots of this homegrown, progressive approach toward translational medicine were laid down by the collaborative environment fostered between two of UC Davis’ renowned resources — its National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center and the School of Veterinary Medicine. It was this strong interdisciplinary culture that allowed Michael Kent, an expert in radiation and medical oncology at the Center for Companion Animal Health, to put that sentiment into practice.
“I think that dogs can become a more important model in trying to unlock different treatments and cures for cancer,” says Kent. “We’re hoping that by using the dog as a model first, we’re able to come up with more rational therapeutic trials that can then go on to people.”
Spontaneous tumors that arise in pets mimic human cancers much more closely than the transplanted human tumors typically studied in laboratory mice. With a more natural and genetically similar model to follow, Kent argues, potential breakthrough therapies backed by pets are then more likely to work in people.
A practicing veterinarian at UC Davis since 1999, Kent completed the Mentored Clinical Research Training Program a few years ago through the Clinical Translational Science Center. The National Institutes of Health-supported initiative was designed to foster innovative and collaborative research across the UC Davis campus. There, he picked up the skills he needed to translate the most promising research from the bench-top to his patients’ “cage side” through clinical trials. But he could not do it alone.
“We try to nurture the skills, attitudes and behaviors that promote team science,” says program director Fred Meyers, executive associate dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine. “The major advances in cancer research have really happened because of people working collaboratively, but it’s been a relatively rare occurrence, and we’re trying to accelerate that.”
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