Developing a Way to Predict Length of Disease-Free Intervals for Dogs with Bone Cancer

Osteosarcoma accounts for 85 percent of all primary bone tumors in dogs. It is generally a highly aggressive cancer that metastasizes to the lungs. With standard treatment, outcomes are highly variable and difficult to predict. About 25 percent of patients survive for less than three months, 50 percent survive for about a year, and only about 20 percent live longer than two years. The researchers have shown that in other canine cancers, DNA copy number aberrations (called CNAs) are significantly associated with the duration of disease-free intervals in patients treated with specific therapies. In this study, they will use existing samples from dogs with osteosarcoma that were previously treated with a clinical trial protocol to identify CNAs associated with longer disease-free intervals. The researchers hope to develop a molecular test that could predict how long a dog will be disease-free after going through standard therapy for osteosarcoma.