Investigating the Origin and Progression of Feline Intestinal Lymphoma

Intestinal lymphoma is a common disease in older cats. The disease can be hard to diagnose and often is difficult to treat. Little is known as to why so many cats get the disease. To fill in this knowledge gap, researchers will look at genes in biopsy samples from diagnostic tests of cats at various disease stages. The team hopes findings will help identify what kind of cells become cancerous as the disease progresses from inflammatory bowel disease to intestinal lymphoma. In another arm of the study, the team will compare cat and human intestinal lymphoma cancers to see if there are lessons to be learned from the way human lymphoma patients are treated that also may help cat lymphoma patients. Together, these findings may pinpoint the cause of the disease in cats to help inform the development of better diagnostics, treatments and preventives for this devastating feline cancer.