 and can restore its normal function as a tumor suppressor.
“If this works well in dogs, then maybe we’ll have better justification to try it in kids,” he says.
In the longer term, the UC Davis program on compar-ative oncology could yield entirely new approaches for treating these three cancers, as clues reveal discoveries about other key genes besides p53. Chen already sees a golden opportunity to learn more about melanoma — the most lethal form of skin cancer — by studying the genetics of the disease in horses.
“Why are certain breeds of horses more susceptible to melanoma?” Chen asks. “This is veterinary medicine, but it may in the future apply to human melanoma.”
Because horses tend to be inbred, their pool of genes shows limited variety.
Information about their breeding is also readily available. By examining DNA from horses with and without melanoma, Chen hopes to find new genes associated with the disease. Then, he’ll search the human genome for comparable genes and investigate whether these might be good targets for new kinds of melanoma treatments.
In the meantime, animal patients should benefit from the research, as Chen’s team tries some of the latest therapies for humans on ailing pets. Animals with melanoma and osteosarcoma, for example, will be given an antibody-based treatment to see if the drug helps prevent metastasis, as it does in cases of human breast cancer.
“We may not be able to cure someone’s pet now, but in the future someone else’s pets will get better care,” says Chen. And there’s an indirect benefit, too. “When a pet lives longer, it increases the owner’s lifespan,” he notes. “Animal health is part of human health.”