a
Department of Pediatrics and Oncological Sciences, Primary
Children’s Hospital, Intermountain Healthcare, Huntsman Cancer Institute
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
b Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine Center for Comparative Medicine and Translational Research, Center for Human Health and the Environment, Cancer Genetics UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States
b Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine Center for Comparative Medicine and Translational Research, Center for Human Health and the Environment, Cancer Genetics UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States
Abstract
Over 1.66 million humans (approx. 500/100 000 population rate) and over 4.2 million dogs
(approx. 5300/100 000 population rate) are diagnosed with cancer
annually in the USA. The interdisciplinary field of comparative oncology
offers a unique and strong opportunity to learn more about universal
cancer risk and development through epidemiology, genetic and genomic
investigations. Working across
species, researchers from human and veterinary medicine can combine
scientific findings to understand more quickly the origins of cancer and
translate these findings to novel therapies to benefit both human and
animals. This review begins with the genetic origins of canines and
their advantage in cancer research. We next focus on recent findings in
comparative oncology related to inherited, or genetic, risk for tumour
development. We then detail the somatic, or genomic, changes within
tumours and the similarities between species. The shared cancers between
humans and dogs thatwe discuss
include sarcoma(osteosarcoma, soft tissue sarcoma, histiocytic sarcoma,
hemangiosarcoma), haematological malignancies (lymphoma, leukaemia),
bladder cancer, intracranial neoplasms (meningioma, glioma) and
melanoma. Tumour risk in other animal species is also briefly discussed.
As the field of genomics advances, we predict that comparative oncology
will continue to benefit both humans and the animals that live among
us. 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights
reserved.
Author keywords
Cancer; Canine; Comparative oncology; Genetics; Genomics; Human
Indexed keywords
GEOBASE Subject Index: cancer; canid; comparative
study; disease treatment; epidemiology; genetic analysis; genomics;
health risk; hominid; interdisciplinary approach; medicinal plant; tumor
Regional Index: United States
Species Index: Animalia; Canis familiaris
ISSN: 09628436
CODEN: PTRBASource Type: Journal
Original language: English
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0231Document Type: Review
Publisher: Royal Society of London
