Chemoimmunotherapy for Canine Lymphoma: Evidence for Efficacy 2017

摘要

Research to develop safe, effective, and affordable treatments for lymphoma continues. This is an ethical and reasonable thing to do; this research makes sense financially because lymphoma is the most common hematopoietic tumor in the dog. The nonprofit organization, Canine Lymphoma Education and Awareness and Research (CLEAR) estimates that only 3% of all dogs with lymphoma are treated. This is shocking to many because most agree that many types of lymphoma respond well to existing chemotherapy treatments resulting in an excellent quality of life and happy clients. Regardless, the duration of remission for most patients is limited to a year or less. Hence, the continuing effort to break this one year barrier continues. This is exactly the same problem physicians had as they treated human patients with lymphoma. The treatment of lymphoma is evolving due to recent research that affirms that, like in people, there are many types of lymphoma, many with a unique biological behavior, response to therapyand thus, prognosis. The disease is usually not painful. It responds very well to systemic chemotherapy yet only one cytotoxic agent has been approved for the treatment of lymphoma. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced recently that the lymphoma drug, Tanovea-CAl, is approved for use in canine patients and will be available to veterinarians nationwide in the very near future. Regardless, it is estimated that this new medication will likely only provide modest benefits. Something more must bedone. If the experience in the treatment of people with lymphoma is a guide, only the use of immunotherapeutics to traditional chemotherapy will likely enhance quality of life while improving the duration of remission and the overall survival time. Thepurpose of this brief manuscript is to review some key points about canine lymphoma and its treatment, including the amazing new world of chemoimmunotherapy.