Existing drug could treat invasive canine oral tumors
A benign but invasive canine oral cancer is often mistaken for a similar malignant one, leading to misdiagnoses in close to a third of cases. But a new diagnostic tool can now distinguish between the two, according to a new study that also identified a promising FDA-approved drug ready for clinical trials.
A benign but invasive canine oral cancer called acanthomatous ameloblastoma (CAA) is often mistaken for a malignant tumor, leading to misdiagnoses in nearly a third of cases. To address this issue, researchers have developed a new diagnostic tool that can distinguish between CAA and canine oral squamous cell carcinoma (COSCC), a malignant form of oral cancer.
Conducted by a multidisciplinary team at Cornell University, the study utilized advanced high-resolution genomic techniques to isolate and profile single cells from tumor samples, identifying a rare cell type unique to CAA. This allowed for clearer differentiation between the two cancers, as these rare cells express a gene called ERBB4, which is also found in certain human cancers.
Following these findings, the researchers tested an FDA-approved drug targeting ERBB4 called neratinib, which showed promising results in reducing CAA tumor growth in live tissue experiments. The team now plans to move forward with clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness of neratinib in treating CAA in dogs, with the hope that this treatment could also provide insights into the human equivalent of the condition.
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