Spontaneously occurring canine cancer as a relevant animal model for developing novel treatments for human cancers

Abstract

The most common cause of death among adult or older dogs is malignancy. Dogs spontaneously develop malignant tumors with age, and the incidence of malignant tumors in dogs is higher than that in humans. Basic research on treatment of tumors is generally conducted using syngeneic or immunodeficient mice, which have some shortcomings as a model for human tumors that develop over a long period of time, while interacting with the host immune system. On the other hand, naturally occurring canine tumors develop under immunocompetent conditions and may be suitable for preclinical studies, especially for the development of therapies that affect host immunity. In this review, some of the canine tumors and immunotherapies that have been implemented thus far will be discussed, with the intent of helping establish cancer treatment research, using dogs with naturally occurring tumors, for translational studies in humans.