Cancer

If you want to check out a potential clinical trial for your cat, these are questions to ask his veterinarian and the study’s research coordinator.

In addition to ongoing research into feline mammary tumors at Cornell, researchers across North America are evaluating potential diagnostic and treatment options for cats with the disease. Ongoing studies include:

Researchers studying feline mammary cancer at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine have set an ambitious agenda. They hope that their ongoing work will lead to better diagnosis, treatment and prevention of breast tumors in cats and humans. Much of their interest lies in how a novel class of drugs affects breast cell tumors. In a study funded by the Cornell Feline Health Center, Assistant Professor Gerlinde Van de Walle, DVM, Ph.D., and Associate Professor Scott Coonrod, Ph.D., both working at the Baker Institute for Animal Health, have identified a promising chemical, BB-Cl-amidine, that seems to kill off feline mammary cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unaffected.

In little more than a decade, changes have taken place in veterinary medicine to help prevent cats developing malignant tumors at the site of certain vaccinations. However, 22,000 cats in the U.S. still develop injection site-associated sarcomas (ISAS) every year, and the tumors are often more aggressive and prone to recurrence than spontaneous ones.

In little more than a decade, changes have taken place in veterinary medicine to help prevent cats developing malignant tumors at the site of certain vaccinations. However, 22,000 cats in the U.S. still develop injection site-associated sarcomas (ISAS) every year, and the tumors are often more aggressive and prone to recurrence than spontaneous ones.

Estimates are that osteoarthritis affects 90 percent of cats over the age of 12 years. Confirmation of the disease, however, can sometimes prove elusive. In the search for an accurate diagnosis, the Winn Feline Foundation has awarded a grant, funded by the animal health company Zoetis, to researchers at the University of Melbourne. Their goal is to develop a blood test biomarker - a molecule indicating an abnormal process - so the disease can be identified earlier.

Scientists at the Bauer Research Foundation in Vero Beach, Fla., are evaluating whether a vitamin B12-based drug called nitrosylcobalamin (NO-Cbl) can be used to treat several types of feline cancer.

Eighty to 90 percent of mammary tumors in cats are cancerous and can spread as rapidly as aggressive breast cancer does in humans. Researchers at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine are hoping to improve treatment of mammary adenocarcinomas, with the long-term goal of a cure. Their pioneering focus: the role of stem cells in the disease. Gerlinde Van de Walle, DVM, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of viral pathogenesis and stem cell biology at Cornell’s Baker Institute for Animal Health, is working to identify adult mammary stem cells (MaSC) in both healthy and malignant feline and canine mammary gland tissues.

Treatment of oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) has traditionally relied upon surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation — with disappointing results. Cats with the rapidly spreading cancer, which accounts for 10 percent of all feline tumors, suffer pain when eating, drinking, grooming and breathing. Many are in such distress that they are euthanized.

Lymphoma is the most common cancer diagnosed in cats, and while several prognostic factors have been documented, another factor recently considered to be important is weight loss. Body weight over time may be a simple, objective and useful marker of patient status.

An estimated two percent of the 80 million or more cats now living in the United States will at some point develop cancer, a disease marked by the uncontrolled proliferation of cells on or within an animal’s hard and soft body tissues. Thanks to dramatic advances in veterinary medicine, many types of feline cancer are manageable — sometimes even reversible — if the condition is recognized early in its development and the affected cat is treated promptly and appropriately. But any cancer that remains undetected and untreated until it has reached an advanced stage is very likely to prove fatal.

Due to the demonstrable effectiveness of vaccines in preventing a wide variety of infectious feline diseases, veterinarians used to recommend that every cat be injected every year with every available vaccine. In the past two decades or so, however, this approach to preventive therapy has come into question for several reasons.Although the vaccine safety and efficacy record is very good overall, it has now become clear that vaccination can sometimes lead to clinical disease. It is remotely possible for vaccines to damage developing fetuses in pregnant cats or to stimulate allergic reactions, and for improperly placed injections to cause severe nerve injury. And although uncommon, vaccines and the equipment used to administer them, if poorly maintained or stored, can become contaminated with infectious agents that can be transmitted by injection.