Hemangiosarcoma research (and Cooper update)

Cooper had his 5th and final IV chemo last Wednesday.  In another couple weeks he will start a course of oral chemotherapy.  He continues to do very well in attitude, though his endurance has suffered a bit.   He can still do things like agility, but instead of jumping regular height he does a lower height (typically 12″).

I sent a sample of his blood to the Broad Institute at MIT and Harvard (Dog Genome Sequencing Project).  They are being funded by the AKC Canine Health Foundation to study hemangiosarcoma.  This cancer of the blood vessel lining is very aggressive and affects as many as 1 in 5 Goldens.   The hope is not only to find better treatments, but also to potentially identify genes that could cause the cancer to be expressed.   If a genetic test can be found, then it would have a profound, presumably positive effect on breeding decisions.   Also, a huge benefit of cancer research in dogs is that the findings often advance human cancer research.

Here’s an update from the Broad Institute, posted by someone last month:

“Update: Hemangiosarcomas are rapidly growing and highly invasive, blood-fed tumors. Blood vessels grow from the tumor and often cause death through excessive blood loss due to rupturing of the tumor. After comparing the genomes of ~100 healthy dogs with ~100 dogs with HSA we were able to identify several areas of the genome that were possible associated to inherited HSA risk factors. Currently, five genes found to be associated with the disease are being searched for mutations. Once the mutations have been identified and their presence in different breeds assessed, this will allow for rapid development of genetic tests for carriers of HSA.”

This is incredibly exciting news!