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Learn more about
GOTTA DANCE at
gottadancefilm.com
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100% of this
donation will be provided to
Dr. Modiano, Director of the Animal Cancer Care and Research Program,
College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota.
Comparative oncology is the study of those cancers that occur
similarly in people and companion animals in order to identify treatments and
cures that benefits them both. A distinction to comparative oncology
research is the fact that disease is never induced in the animals being treated.
That is, the cancer has only occurred spontaneously.
 Humans and dogs have been linked in a mutually beneficial relationship
since the Stone Age, when man and dog first joined in the hunt. Dogs
share our homes, food, and affection. As it turns out, they also share
much of our genetic code and suffer from many of the same kinds of
cancer. That's why the clinicians and scientists of the Animal Cancer
Care and Research (ACCR) program at the University of Minnesota are
joining with dogs in another type of hunt—the search for a cure for
cancer in both dogs and humans.
"Veterinarians have known for years that humans and their dogs have many
types of cancer in common—non-Hodgkin lymphoma, prostate, lung, breast,
and bone cancer, and melanoma, to name a few," Dr. Jaime Modiano
explains. "Yet, it wasn't until the dog genome was decoded in 2005 that
scientists could begin to reap the rewards of studying cancer in both
dogs and humans to their mutual benefit, bolstering the emerging field
of comparative oncology."
Dr. Modiano directs the College of Veterinary Medicine's Animal Cancer
Care and Research program and holds the Alvin S. and June Perlman
Endowed Chair in Animal Oncology. He also is a member of the Masonic
Cancer Center, Univ. of Minnesota, a National Cancer
Institute–designated comprehensive cancer center recognized for its
research, treatment, and education.
Breakthrough research (published in Chromosome Research in February
2008) arising from a highly productive and long-standing collaboration
between Dr. Modiano and Dr. Matthew Breen, professor of genomics at
North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine, proved
that cancers in the two species aren't just similar; they are virtually
the same. At the University of Minnesota, research in comparative
oncology bridges the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Masonic
Cancer Center. The research will help advance the understanding of the
biology of cancer and create new therapies to treat cancer in both
humans and dogs. When the feline genome is decoded, cats will aid in the
effort, too.
Bringing dogs into the cancer research mix offers huge benefits, chief
among them speed. Dogs live into old age, but their life spans are
compressed, which allows researchers to see the progress of cancer and
the effects of different types of treatments 7 to 10 times faster than
in humans. That allows rapid completion of clinical trials.
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