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GENE-THERAPY VACCINES AGAINST CANINE MALIGNANT MELANOMA

First broadcast on www.provet.co.uk  


This information is provided by Provet for educational purposes only.

You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

Two separate clinical trials have reported the successful use of gene therapy vaccines in the treatment of advanced malignant melanoma in dogs. One used a human DNA vaccine, the other an autogenous vaccine against the melanoma cells.

Canine malignant melanoma is a serious cancer which can be frustrating to treat because it does not respond well to chemotherapy and recurrence is common following surgical excision. So, the development of successful gene therapy vaccines is good news for the veterinary profession, and it also signals possible benefits from this technology for human patients.

Study 1 Clinical trials using gene therapy to treat 16 advanced cases of malignant melanoma in dogs are reported to have been exceptionally successful, and as a result human clinical trials will follow. The studies were conducted by Professor Gregory MacEwan and Gary Hogge at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

Some of the dogs had extended survival times, 20% of dogs given the vaccine showed a decrease in tumour size, and one dog underwent a total remission. The vaccine was produced by taking cells from surgically removed tumour tissue and then injecting DNA (using a special gene-gun) into cells that manufacture cytokines against the cancer cells. These modified cells were then injected back into the patient as a vaccine and they stimulated an immune response against the remaining cancer cells.

Study 2 In another study, human DNA vaccine was used at Animal Medical Centre, New York, USA by Dr Phil Bergman and his Oncology group. In this study 10 dogs with advanced malignant melanoma were given the vaccine and 4 cases were successfully treated.

Since this article was originally written ONCEPT™ Canine Melanoma Vaccine, DNA has been launched. . ONCEPT is a breakthrough vaccine that was licensed in the US in 2010 for aiding in extending survival of dogs with stage II or stage III oral canine melanoma, a common yet deadly form of cancer in dogs.

References

Human Gene Therapy - September 2000

Bergman PJ, Wolchok JD. Of Mice and Men (and Dogs): development of a xenogeneic DNA vaccine program for canine malignant melanoma. Cancer Therapy 2008;6:817-826.

Data on file at Merial. Study 05-171. 2009.

Bergman PJ, et al. Development of a xenogeneic DNA vaccine program for canine malignant melanoma at the Animal Medical Center. Vaccine 2006;24:4582-4585.

Liao JCF, et al. Vaccination with human tyrosinase DNA induces antibody responses in dogs with advanced melanoma. Cancer Immunity 2006;6:8-17.

ONCEPT product label.

Updated October 2013