News from the Veterinary Cancer Society Meeting
Sarah E. Sheafor, DVM, ACVIM

Feline Fibrosarcomas (vaccinal): a joint study from the University of Pennsylvania and University of Wisconsin-Madison. Cats who had their first surgery for a vaccinal sarcoma performed at one of these institutions had a 264+ day tumor-free time, while cats who had their first surgery performed by the private practitioners referring to these universities had only a 63 day tumor-free interval. Only 14% of cats treated with surgery alone (no adjuvant chemotherapy or radiation therapy or both) were long term survivors.

Antibiotics and Multiple Chemotherapy Drug Resistance: a cell culture study from Texas A&M. A human breast cancer cell line was incubated with doxycycline, piperacillin and cefoperazone. The doxycycline-incubated cells developed with p-glycoprotein-mediated multiple drug resistance phenotype, meaning that these cancer cells were now resistant to doxorubicin, vincristine, taxol, and many other anti-cancer drugs.

Salivary gland tumors: a VCOG study (multi-institutional). No benign or non-epithelial tumors were found in dogs or cats. In dogs, those with tumors confined to the salivary gland (no metastases) had survival times with therapy of >2000 days, while those with metastases had survival times of less than 150 days. Median survival times of dogs and cats (all stages of disease) were 515-516, respectively.

Transitional cell carcinoma: a study from Purdue University. Dogs with measurable, non-resectable TCC of the bladder were treated with a combination of carboplatin and piroxicam. Nephrotoxicity did not occur. GI toxicity was common. A partial remission rate of 38% was observed, but survival times were disappointingly short (study not yet complete).

Cancer in the Flat-Coated Retriever: a report from Ohio State University and the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Cancer is the overwhelming cause of death in this breed, accounting for 63% of deaths. The crude incidence rate of cancer in the FlatCoat is 5 times that in the general canine population. No environmental or medical factors were identified that predisposed to cancer in this breed, other than being a FlatCoat.

The next Veterinary Cancer Society Meeting is in Estes Park, Colorado from October 3-6.