The complexity of cancer

By Carol Beuchat PhD

In more and more dog breeds, cancer is becoming a significant health issue. Irish Water Spaniels, Bernese Mountain Dogs, Golden Retrievers, Flatcoated Retrievers, Irish Wolfhounds, Scottish Deerhounds, and more have cancer rates of 40% or higher. Many research studies have been initiated to study the genetic basis of these cancers in the hopes of coming up with a genetic cause that can be managed by selective breeding. But it is becoming clear that the genetic backgrounds of most cancers are complex and poorly understood.

A major new study has been published that uses a systems-level approach to explore the tangle of genetic relationships and interactions associated with various types of cancers in humans (New Pathology Atlas maps genes in cancer to accelerate progress in personalized medicine) Researchers are finding that there are causal "themes" that account for many types of cancers. For example, many of the genes associated with cancer are involved in regulation of cell growth and proliferation, the processes that result in the growth of tumors. We are beginning to identify "prognostic" marker genes that are correlated with clinical outcome and duration of survival, some of which are shared among many types of cancers.

The paper is a heavy but fascinating read. But as part of the project, the authors have also created the Human Pathology Atlas as part of the Human Protein Atlas. The Pathology Atlas contains information on 17 major types of human cancers. Especially interesting is this chart (below) summarizing the number of genes associated with  favorable or unfavorable prognosis for each type. For most cancers, there are hundreds or even thousands of genes that affect both positive and negative prognosis.
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http://www.proteinatlas.org/humanpathology

We could be doing something like this for dogs. Accumulating the data that will be necessary for such an analysis will take significant effort and resources. But the rates of cancer in dogs are far higher than in any other animals, including humans (Do dogs have more cancer than other mammals?). We could collect data for the thousands of dogs each year that are affected by cancer and make it available to researchers for studies like this one. This will take infrastructure and organization, but from studies like this one, the model already exists. Breeders and dog lovers are usually enthusiastic supporters of research if they can see it benefiting the health and welfare of dogs.

I think we can do this, and if we build it, they will come.

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REFERENCES

Uhlen et al 2017. A pathology atlas of the human cancer transcriptome. Science 357: 666 (eaan2507 (2017).
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