Cancer Breakthrough in Canines May Lead to a Cure for Their Best Friend

At the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society it was announced that a promising drug had been tested in four dogs successfully for various types of cancers. This new drug called nitrosylcobalamin (NO-Cbl) effectively reduced the tumor size of aggressive cancers including anal xac adenocarcinoma, spinal tumors, and inoperable thyroid carcinoma as well as giving the animal additional time to live a better life with no negative side effects. This not only gives hope to dog owners, but also cancer patients for a new cancer treatment.

Since six million dogs are diagnosed with cancer every year, they provide researchers an excellent opportunity to experiment with the most recent cancer treatment drugs when all other treatments fail and the last option is euthanasia. The National Cancer Society receives the data from the trails with canines since they are exposed to the same environment as humans and thus have similar responses to drugs. Further reason for using dogs is that they share genetic similarities with humans.

Nitrosylcobalamin enters cancer cells like a "Trojan horse." It targets the cancer cells because cancer cells have more B12 receptors than normal cells to allow them to grow at a rapid rate. Nitric oxide molecules are attached to vitamin B12. The B12 acts as the Trojan horse, allowing nitric oxide to enter the cancer cell at high toxic levels, thus killing the cell from within.

Bauer plans to have a success rate of ten dogs and work on getting NO-Cbl approved for human use by the FDA. He also wants to have the drug approved for canine treatment as well.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090323143856.htm