A black-and-tan, floppy-eared, 9-year-old Gordon setter named Trilly may have just made medical history by receiving a shot that hopefully contains the very first vaccine intended to prevent canine cancer. Arizona State University (ASU) scientist Stephen Johnston, a professor in the School of Life Sciences and director of the Biodesign Center for Innovations in Medicine enthusiastically gave the dog the shot, proclaiming, “First one. We did it!”
It was an exciting moment for Johnston, as it was the culmination of a 12-year, high-risk, high-reward quest to reshape the way we approach treating cancer – by preventing cancer before it starts. He developed the vaccine with his team at the ASU Biodesign Institute’s Center for Innovations in Medicine.
Johnston hopes it will open the door to the possibility of a vaccine to prevent cancer for humans too. He said:
“If this can work in dogs — and that’s a big if — then we believe it can work in people too.”
Trilly is one of 800 dogs who are participating in a 5-year study to examine any beneficial effects that this vaccine may have. It is the largest canine cancer vaccine trial ever conducted. If it works, it will be a total game changer for dogs as well as a beacon of hope for humans.
Cancer is the number 1 cause of illness and death for both species. So much so for older dogs that one out of every three dogs are affected by canine cancer, and 6 million new canine cancer cases are diagnosed every year.
David Vail, a professor, and board-certified oncologist at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine said:
“We’re testing a totally novel way of creating an anticancer immune response. The holy grail would be to prevent cancer as opposed to waiting for it to start and then treating it.”
The study was made possible by a $6 million grant Johnston received from the Open Philanthropy Project. The University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine is one of three participating institutions, along with Colorado State University and the University of California, Davis.
The Study
- Cancer-free, healthy dogs between the ages of 6 and 10 enrolled.
- Each one of the 800 dogs was given either a vaccine or placebo (neither the dog owners nor the scientists know which).
- Two sets of vaccines will be given every two weeks, for a total of four treatments, and then annually.
- The dogs will continue to live their normal lives at home and receiving biannual exams with a complete clinical pathology workup. They will all be monitored closely throughout the duration of the study.
- The experiment will determine whether the vaccine truly can prevent cancers. Johnston said: “We should know as soon as two years from now whether or not we see the vaccine is having an effect.”
- All participants medical care will be 100% covered by the study. “Even if a patient is randomized to the placebo group, they will enjoy five years of the best medical care available at no cost,” Vail notes. “And funds are available to diagnose and treat cancers that may develop in dogs in both the treatment and placebo group.”
The Anticancer Vaccine
The anticancer vaccine being tested is made up of a proprietary cocktail that targets approximately 30 abnormal proteins found on the surface of cancer cells. These proteins are generally only found in patients with cancer (in both dogs and people). They are a result of improperly coded RNA — so-called frame-shift mutations.
This preventative vaccine follows the same principle as an influenza vaccine – it bolsters the body’s readiness to fight the flu – “to have the immune system primed such that if a cancer cell develops, it will attack,” Vail says.
How It Works
The cluster of proteins is injected into healthy patients, along with a substance that stimulates an immune response. Once in the body, the vaccine is intended to serve as a universal defender against cancer by “turning on” the immune system to recognize and defeat cancer.
The vaccine can target several cancers common to dogs, including lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system; osteosarcoma, or bone cancer; hemangiosarcoma, a deadly cancer that originates in the blood vessels and is almost exclusive to dogs; and mastocytomas, or mast cell tumors.
It works as traditional vaccines work, by introducing into the body a protein found on the surface of the virus that the vaccine is protecting against. The immune system sees the protein as a threat, establishes a memory of it, and, if there is a later infection, recognizes that protein and is ready to react. “It’s almost like putting up a wanted poster,” Vail explains. “When that virus infects you, the immune cells recognize it because of the ‘poster.’ Then, the immune cells go out and kill it.”
Conclusion
Calviri (Johnston’s company) plans to create a cancer vaccine for humans next if all goes well with this trial. According to Johnston, they already have the technology to make the human vaccine right now, but even optimistically it would be five to 10 years before human use.
Statistically speaking, nine million people around the world will die from cancer this year, Vail explains. As many as 70% of them are poor or living in developing countries where access to treatment may be limited. If a preventative vaccine was available, it could be “applied globally at low expense,” he says, adding: “It’s a whole new way of looking at anti-cancer vaccines. The key is that you don’t have to personalize the vaccine to an individual, which is a very expensive proposition.”
