Abstract
Cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs, in part because many cases are identified at an advanced stage when clinical signs have developed, and prognosis is poor. Increased understanding of cancer as a disease of the genome has led to the introduction of liquid biopsy testing, allowing for detection of genomic alterations in cell-free DNA fragments in blood to facilitate earlier detection, characterization, and management of cancer through non-invasive means. Recent discoveries in the areas of genomics and oncology have provided a deeper understanding of the molecular origins and evolution of cancer, and of the “one health” similarities between humans and dogs that underlie the field of comparative oncology. These discoveries, combined with technological advances in DNA profiling, are shifting the paradigm for cancer diagnosis toward earlier detection with the goal of improving outcomes. Liquid biopsy testing has already revolutionized the way cancer is managed in human medicine – and it is poised to make a similar impact in veterinary medicine. Multiple clinical use cases for liquid biopsy are emerging, including screening, aid in diagnosis, targeted treatment selection, treatment response monitoring, minimal residual disease detection, and recurrence monitoring. This review article highlights key scientific advances in genomics and their relevance for veterinary oncology, with the goal of providing a foundational introduction to this important topic for veterinarians. As these technologies migrate from human medicine into veterinary medicine, improved awareness and understanding will facilitate their rapid adoption, for the benefit of veterinary patients.
Highlights
Cancer is frequent in dogs and is by far their most common cause of death [1,2,3,4,5]
The availability of liquid biopsy assays, as subject selection tools during the drug development process and as companion diagnostics following regulatory approval, can accelerate the development of canine-specific targeted therapeutics; this will likely be the preferred path to bringing targeted treatments into veterinary oncology, as human-oriented targeted treatments might not have the same efficacy in canine cancer even if the targeted genomic alteration is perfectly homologous across the two species [242]
To observe cancer-related genomic variants at low concentrations in blood, the assay must interrogate a large number of cellfree Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) (cfDNA) fragments, the majority of which will not be tumor-derived
Summary
Cancer is frequent in dogs and is by far their most common cause of death [1,2,3,4,5]. To provide the highest clinical value, a liquid biopsy test should be able to detect multiple classes of cancer-associated genomic alterations (described above) in cfDNA with high accuracy, even at very low concentrations in the circulation.
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