breast cancer in dogs

Breast Cancer in Dogs

/ susanbulanda / 2 Comments

Mammary tumors in dogs can manifest itself the same way as it does in humans. According to Karin Sorenmo, a veterinary oncologist at Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine, Mammary gland carcinomas are the most common in intact dogs. Yet veterinarians have not had a reliable way to determine which dogs are fine with surgical treatment only, which dogs might need chemotherapy or hormonal treatment.

Dr. Sorenmo has developed a new “bio-scoring” system that gives veterinarians a more reliable prognosticating method. The work has been published in the journal Veterinary and Comparative Oncology.

The beauty of this system is that it is easy for veterinarians to use, taking much of the guess work out of evaluating dogs with breast cancer. This method was developed by a team of veterinarians, coauthors were Amy C. Durham, Michael C. Goldschmidt, and Darko Stefanovski of Penn Vet; Veronica Kristiansen of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences; and Laura Pena of Complutense University of Madrid.

beagle pups

Dog and human breast cancer is similar

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Enni Markkanen of the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the Vetsuisse Faculty of the University of Zurich along with other researchers have determined that breast cancer in dogs is similar to breast cancer in humans.

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What the researches found was that the cancer cells in tumors produce substances that cause the healthy cells around the tumor to support the growth of the cancer cells, thus spreading the cancerous tumor.

The spread of breast cancer works the same in dogs as it does in humans. It does not react the same in rats or cells produced in the laboratory making the study of breast cancer in dogs important in understanding breast cancer in humans.

With permission from the dog’s owners, researchers study the surrounding tissue in dogs who have mammary tumors using molecular biology and immunohistological methods and conduct pathological tests to try and better understand the nature of the disease. This type of research will benefit both humans and dogs, hopefully leading to a cure for breast cancer for both.