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From the Director

Dr. Robertson

John Robertson VMD, PhD
Director of CeCO

Welcome to our Website! We hope you will find the information on this site useful and timely. At CeCO, we are devoted to finding cures for cancer in animals and in people. Periodically, I will update you on our efforts to win the War on Cancer.

Perhaps you are wondering what the "Comparative" in the Center for Comparative Oncology is all about.

Comparative Oncology is a novel branch of oncology in which the behavior of tumors in different species is studied. The goal of comparative oncology is discovering underlying mechanisms of the disease process and developing more effective therapies for tumors in a variety of species. The discipline of comparative oncology seeks an understanding of cross species similarities and differences in the neoplastic process. For example, do tumors with a similar clinical presentation, morphology and progression in animals have relevance to humans? Similarities may be due to common etiologies and risk factors, such as environmental pollutants, and may therefore be preventable. As an extension of this thought process, it is believed that treatments developed for similar tumors may be used across species.

It is equally important to study differences in the neoplastic disease process among different species. In fact, differences may be as important as similarities in advancing an understanding of cancer. For example, the overall incidence of tumors in great apes, such as chimpanzees is roughly 10% the incidence of tumors in humans. While there are obvious differences in risk factors (voluntary behaviors such as consumption of tobacco products), there are also obvious similarities in primate and human genomes. A comparison of genetic risk factors between great apes and humans might help identify key gene targets. Other important differences among species include lifespan, lifestyle, and effects of neutering (hormone deprivation). Clearly, the study of the neoplastic process in rodents (rats and mice) has provided tremendous, albeit rather focused, insights for many years. Thus, a study of cross-species differences is also an integral part of comparative oncology.

At CeCO, we are using studies of spontaneous tumors in different species to find out what are common characteristics in all species. Two primary tumor targets right now are canine malignant lymphoma (very similar in many respects to human non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) and equine melanoma (which occurs commonly on pale coated horses).