Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine

The Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine is conducting clinical trials in canine breast/mammary cancer to evaluate the effectiveness of a revolutionary new cell-based vaccine technology designed to enhance the patient’s own immune recognition and response to mammary cancer. This treatment takes advantage of the latest research into the biology of canine cancer. We are looking for dogs for potential recruitment in the clinical trial prior to treatment. We encourage you to refer such cases, with a presumptive diagnosis of mammary cancer, for enrollment and treatment under this protocol.

We need your help...

Contact us if you have patients that fit the description and would like to have them considered for enrollment. We are pleased to discuss the details and benefits of enrollment. We anticipate the results of this treatment protocol promise to bring the benefits of molecular and cellular biology to dogs with cancers that would normally severely compromise the quality or end their lives. Through this trial we hope to demonstrate effective treatment of breast/mammary cancer in affected dogs and then to apply this approach to other types of canine cancer as well.

In this important endeavor we need your help. A poster announcing the trial, which is suitable for posting in your waiting area and for distribution to likely owners, is available to assist in recruitment (see below). Please contact us when you identify suitable cases. We look forward to hearing from you and we thank you for your help in this important effort.

Download the PDF now to access the poster and to view details on the project.

Treatment:

The treatment is composed of three vaccinations made from the patient’s own antigen presenting cells (harvested from blood) and a canine mammary tumor-derived cell line in combination with other components designed to enhance immune system recognition. The treatment has proven safe in normal laboratory dogs with few observable side-effects which were low to moderate in severity and resolved quickly without further intervention. We hope our approach provides a more effective management strategy than is currently available to practitioners.

Dogs can be spayed or intact with diagnosed or suspected multifocal mammary cancer and should have no evidence of tumor spread to the lungs on the basis of chest x-rays although lymph node involvement is acceptable.
Standard treatment (surgery +/- chemotherapy) is covered by the trial and ideally will be performed at Auburn University as we will require fresh and sterile biopsy materials to determine diagnosis and to culture tumor cells for follow-up analysis of the patient’s immune response.
Referral from the owner’s personal veterinarian or veterinary clinic is preferred for enrollment.
Post-surgical treatment, including all three vaccinations (the treatment protocol lasts approximately 10-12 weeks) followed by three rechecks (during the remainder of one year) will be provided without charge for qualified enrollees.