Texas A&M veterinary professor Heather Wilson-Robles with some of her canine patients.
This article is from EarthSky.
“COLLEGE STATION, May 9, 2012 – It could be that man’s best friend might one day be man’s best healer.”
“Dogs are among the best animals when it comes to providing models for better medical treatments in humans, and with more than 77 million dogs in the United States alone, it’s another way the human-animal bond has become closer than anyone had ever dreamed. Researchers at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences are looking into ways how dogs – and several other animal types – can provide a variety of medical benefits to people, ranging from bone cancer studies to spinal cord injuries and others.”
“Dogs can be ideal models to study,” says Theresa Fossum, director of the Texas A&M Institute for Preclinical Studies.
“This is especially true when it comes to certain types of cancer. Cancers in dogs, such as bone cancer, lymphoma and many other types of tumors, are almost identical to those same kinds found in humans and they tend to develop faster and run their course quicker, so it’s an ideal way to see if a certain therapy will work. Dogs also tend to be better predictors of how new cancer drugs and medical devices can work. By studying cancer treatments in dogs, we can come up with better and more improved ways to treat cancer in humans and animals.”
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” Bone cancer in dogs, Fossum explains, is almost identical to human bone cancer. To get a big picture of just how the disease forms and progresses in dogs, Fossum has helped to create the Texas Veterinary Cancer Registry, a database of treatment information. ”
For the full article, and to find out more about the Texas Veterinary Cancer Registry, please follow this link.
