We share this link to an important scientific article by Amy M. Boddy, Tara M. Harrison, and Lisa M. Abegglen that appeared in iScience on August 21, 2020, Comparative Oncology: New Insights into an Ancient Disease, in it the three scientists offer a thorough examination of why collaborative studies in comparative oncology across species offer tremendous promise. One of the most significant opportunities the authors point to is to sequence DNA from non-human tumors to understand what tumor mutations are unique, as well as which are shared with people. These findings will harness the power of personalized medicine for animal patients but also rapidly improve their advancement for human patients…there is an opportunity to leverage animal clinical trial data as better models (compared with traditional human pre-clinical models, including mice) to improve clinical trial results and increase new drug approvals to help treat both human and animal patients” (as reviewed in Somarelli, et al., 2020a, 2020b).
This is precisely the work that Animal Cancer Foundation is funding through the Canine Cancer Genome Project (CCGP) sponsored by Blue Buffalo Foundation and YOU, our generous donors!