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The enhanced understanding of immunology experienced over the last 5 decades afforded through the tools of molecular biology has recently translated into cancer immunotherapy becoming one of the most exciting and rapidly expanding fields. Human cancer immunotherapy is now recognized as one of the pillars of treatment alongside surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. The field of veterinary cancer immunotherapy has also rapidly advanced in the last decade with a handful of commercially available products and a plethora of investigational cancer immunotherapies, which will hopefully expand our veterinary oncology treatment toolkit over time., Competing Interests: Disclosure Dr P.J. Bergman is a co-inventor on patent US7556805B2 and was the veterinary principal investigator for the canine melanoma vaccine Oncept which received USDA-CVB conditional licensure in 2007 and full licensure in December of 2009. He also receives a minority royalty stream payment., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The melanocortin 4 antagonist TCMCB07 is safe and effective in reversing cachexia caused by sepsis or cancer in rodents. The safety and pharmacokinetics of TCMCB07 are demonstrated in healthy beagle dogs., Hypothesis/objectives: The objectives of this study were to investigate the safety, peak plasma concentrations, and potential for efficacy of TCMCB07 in pet dogs with naturally occurring cachexia over a 4-week time period., Animals: Fourteen dogs with cachexia of any underlying cause, except cancer of the oral cavity or gastrointestinal tract, were eligible for enrollment with informed client consent., Methods: This study was a prospective, 1-armed open-label trial. Physical examination, complete blood count, chemistry panel, and owner-assessed quality of life surveys were checked at weeks 1, 2, and 4. Due to potential for bradycardia and hypotension, Holter monitoring and blood pressure evaluations were scheduled at pre-enrollment and week 4., Results: Fourteen dogs completed the trial. Significant changes detected included increased mean body weight (18.6-19.5 kg, P < .02), increased body condition score (median Tufts 5-point thin dog scale score P < .004 and WSAVA muscle condition score P < .02) and increased mean blood urea nitrogen (21.79-30.43 mg dL -1 , P < .004). On quality of life surveys, pet owners perceived their dog appeared to be panting less (P < .002) and that the general health improved (P < .03). Four dogs had a change in coat pigmentation. The peak plasma concentration of TCMCB07 in cachectic dogs was similar to that in healthy beagle dogs., Conclusions and Clinical Importance: TCMCB07 was safe and has potential efficacy in pet dogs with cachexia., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.)

One of the primary objectives of the Oncology Pathology Working Group (OPWG) is for oncologists and pathologists to collaboratively generate consensus documents to standardize aspects of and provide guidelines for veterinary oncologic pathology. Consensus is established through review of relevant peer-reviewed literature relative to a subgroup's particular focus. In this article, the authors provide a critical review of the current literature for the diagnosis of, and histopathologic prognostication for, canine cutaneous and oral/lip melanocytic neoplasms, suggest guidelines for reporting, provide recommendations for clinical interpretation, and discuss future directions. This document represents the opinions of the working group and the authors and does not constitute a formal endorsement by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine or the Veterinary Cancer Society., (© 2022 The Authors. Veterinary and Comparative Oncology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The enhanced understanding of immunology experienced over the last 4 decades afforded through the tools of molecular biology has recently translated into cancer immunotherapy becoming one of the most exciting and rapidly expanding fields. Human cancer immunotherapy is now recognized as one of the pillars of treatment alongside surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. The field of veterinary cancer immunotherapy has also rapidly advanced in the last decade with a handful of commercially available products and a plethora of investigational cancer immunotherapies that will hopefully expand the veterinary oncology treatment toolkit over time., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The ideal cancer immunotherapy agent should be able to discriminate between cancer and normal cells, be potent enough to kill small or large numbers of tumor cells, and be able to prevent recurrence of the tumor. Tumor immunology and immunotherapy are among the most exciting and rapidly expanding fields; cancer immunotherapy is now recognized as a pillar of treatment alongside traditional modalities. This article highlights approaches that seem to hold particular promise in human clinical trials and many that have been tested in veterinary medicine., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Tumor immunology and immunotherapy is one of the most exciting and rapidly expanding fields. The immune system is divided into 2 primary components: the innate immune response and the highly specific, but more slowly developing, adaptive or acquired immune response. Immune responses are separated by whether they are induced by exposure to a foreign antigen (active response) or transferred through serum or lymphocytes from an immunized individual (passive response). The ideal cancer immunotherapy agent should discriminate between cancer and normal cells (specificity), be potent enough to kill small or large numbers of tumor cells (sensitivity), and prevent recurrence of a tumor (durability)., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

There is an increasing need for more accurate prognostic and predictive markers in veterinary oncology because of an increasing number of treatment options, the increased financial costs associated with treatment, and the emotional stress experienced by owners in association with the disease and its treatment. Numerous studies have evaluated potential prognostic and predictive markers for veterinary neoplastic diseases, but there are no established guidelines or standards for the conduct and reporting of prognostic studies in veterinary medicine. This lack of standardization has made the evaluation and comparison of studies difficult. Most important, translating these results to clinical applications is problematic. To address this issue, the American College of Veterinary Pathologists' Oncology Committee organized an initiative to establish guidelines for the conduct and reporting of prognostic studies in veterinary oncology. The goal of this initiative is to increase the quality and standardization of veterinary prognostic studies to facilitate independent evaluation, validation, comparison, and implementation of study results. This article represents a consensus statement on the conduct and reporting of prognostic studies in veterinary oncology from veterinary pathologists and oncologists from around the world. These guidelines should be considered a recommendation based on the current state of knowledge in the field, and they will need to be continually reevaluated and revised as the field of veterinary oncology continues to progress. As mentioned, these guidelines were developed through an initiative of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists' Oncology Committee, and they have been reviewed and endorsed by the World Small Animal Veterinary Association.

The veterinary oncology profession is uniquely able to contribute to the many advances that are imminent in immunotherapy. However, what works in a mouse will often not reflect the outcome in human patients with cancer. Therefore, comparative immunotherapy studies using veterinary patients may be better able to bridge murine and human studies. Many cancers in dogs and cats seem to be stronger models for their counterpart human tumors than presently available murine model systems. This author looks forward to the time when immunotherapy plays a significant role in the treatment and/or prevention of cancer in human and veterinary patients., (Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The immune system is generally divided into 2 primary components: the innate immune response, and the highly specific but more slowly developing adaptive or acquired immune response. Immune responses can be further separated by whether they are induced by exposure to a foreign antigen (an "active" response) or whether they are transferred through serum or lymphocytes from an immunized individual (a "passive" response). The ideal cancer immunotherapy agent should be able to discriminate between cancer and normal cells (ie, specificity), be potent enough to kill small or large numbers of tumor cells (ie, sensitivity), and lastly be able to prevent recurrence of the tumor (ie, durability). Tumor immunology and immunotherapy is one of the most exciting and rapidly expanding fields at present.

With the tools of molecular biology and a greater understanding of mechanisms to harness the immune system, effective tumor immunotherapy is becoming a reality. This new class of therapeutics offers a more targeted, and therefore precise, approach to the treatment of cancer. The recent conditional licensure of a xenogeneic DNA vaccine for advanced canine malignant melanoma strongly suggests that immunotherapy can play an extremely important role alongside the classic cancer treatment triad components of surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy.

The diagnosis, staging, and treatment of tumors in veterinary as well as human oncology have traditionally incorporated elements of anatomic extent of neoplasia through various clinical and pathologic methods. These clinicopathological methods have been the basis for the development of the tumor, node, and metastasis and grading systems, which have translated into clinically significant advances over the last 20 to 30 years. Unfortunately, there continues to be significant limitations to this system when prognostication and therapeutic decisions need to be made specific to a patient. For example, completely resected and cleanly staged phenotypically identical grade II mast cell tumors in dogs can have opposing clinical outcomes. In addition, dogs or cats with identical stage and grade lymphoma can have significantly divergent responses to the same multi-agent chemotherapy protocol. Numerous nonanatomic neoplastic molecular prognostic factors have been recently identified and have the potential to improve on the presently available tumor, node, and metastasis- and grading-based systems. To date in human oncology, single nonanatomic factors have only occasionally translated into efficient and independent prognostic factors, which speaks to the heterogeneity of cancer. Therefore, the use of panels of factors have been encouraged that will allow for the development of a molecular prognostic index, which can then be used in concert with presently available systems. This review will summarize how to best utilize presently available tumor, node, and metastasis- and grading-based systems, and incorporate newly available molecular prognostic factors.

Chemotherapy agents are extremely important in the treatment of liquid malignancies, such as lymphoma, myeloma, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. In addition, chemotherapy agents have proven effective in the adjuvant treatment of solid tumors, such as osteosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, transitional cell carcinoma, and others. Unfortunately, chemotherapy resistance in these situations is the most significant cause of treatment failure. Therefore, the ability to predict, treat, or circumvent resistance is extremely likely to improve clinical outcomes. This article has reviewed the most widely investigated forms of chemotherapy resistance, such as reduced drug accumulation, increased DNA damage repair, decreased apoptosis, and others; however, new mechanisms are being found at an alarming pace. In addition, investigations to date have routinely centered on single-cell mechanisms of drug resistance, and cancer is truly a three dimensional disease. The elucidation of mechanisms surrounding (1) how tumors interact with their normal microenvironment, (2) how tumors interact in a three-dimensional environment, and (3) a better understanding of basic tumor physiology and biology may supersede in importance those previously elucidated single-cell mechanisms of chemoresistance.

Forty-four dogs with histologically confirmed malignant tumors were used in a prospective study to determine the toxicity of the chemotherapeutic agent mitoxantrone, when administered at dosages higher than what has been previously reported for use in dogs. After each dose was administered, dogs were evaluated for signs of toxicosis for 3 weeks or until the dog developed progressive disease, died, or was euthanatized. Forty dogs had been refractory to 1 or more treatment modalities (surgery, n = 26; chemotherapy other than mitoxantrone, n = 17; radiation, n = 2) prior to entering this study. Ten dogs were given mitoxantrone at a dosage of 5.5 mg/m2 of body surface, IV, every 3 weeks (39 total doses); 11 were given mitoxantrone at a dosage of 6.0 mg/m2, IV, every 3 weeks (26 total doses); and 23 were given mitoxantrone at a dosage of 6.5 mg/m2, IV, every 3 weeks (70 total doses). The most common signs of toxicosis were vomiting, anorexia, diarrhea, lethargy, and sepsis secondary to myelosuppression. Two dogs, both of which received the highest dosage, died of complications attributable to mitoxantrone administration. The prevalence of toxicoses was not associated with age, breed, sex, tumor type, number of doses, or dosage. Dogs did develop myelosuppression 7 days after they were given mitoxantrone.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)