Researchers find link between human and canine brain tumor detection markers

Gorodenkoff/stock.adobe.com

Researchers at Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS), Baylor College of Medicine, and Texas Children’s Hospital announced they have discovered that meningiomas are extremely similar genetically in dogs and cats. The similarities the researchers discovered will allow doctors to use a classification system that identifies aggressive tumors in both humans and dogs. The findings will also create new opportunities for collaboration between animal and human medicine.

“The discovery that naturally occurring canine tumors closely resemble their human counterparts opens numerous avenues for exploring the biology of these challenging tumors,” said Akash Patel, MD, an associate professor of neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine and principal investigator at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (Duncan NRI) at Texas Children’s Hospital, in an organizational release.¹ “It also provides opportunities for developing and studying novel treatments applicable to both humans and dogs.”

The study, which was recently published on February 20, 2024, in Acta Neuropathologica, analyzed 62 canine meningiomas from 27 dog breeds and learned that tumors shared remarkable similarities to the kinds of tumors occurring in humans.² According to the release, this is the largest study of the gene expression profiles of canine meningiomas to date.¹

Patel’s team, along with work previously completed by Jonathan Levine, DVM, VMBS professor and head of the department of small animal clinical sciences, and Beth Boudreau, PhD, DVM, explored gliomas, another brain tumor. Patel worked alongside others at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital and found that there are 3 biologically distinct subtypes for classifying meningiomas in humans, MegG, A, B, and C, by analyzing the patient's RNA.¹ Through this new classification system, they were able to predict patient outcomes with better accuracy than a standard tissue sample analysis.

Levine, Boudreau, and other VMBS colleagues and the Jackson Laboratory for Genetic Medicine discovered there are genetic similarities between gliomas in humans and dogs.¹ After learning of these advancements, Patel reached out to Levine to see if there was interest in applying what they have learned to study meningiomas. Because there is a lack of reliable and viable experimental models, medical professors have faced barriers when trying to better understand the biology and develop effective treatments against these brain tumors.

“We ended up agreeing to provide Patel with canine tumor samples we had worked years and years to archive, to see if he could isolate the RNA, which is not always easy to do,” Levine said. “He was able to produce this very robust dataset that showed a similar pattern structure to human tumors. Our team also provided Dr Patel with key clinical outcome data, including responses to certain treatments.”¹

Since a connection has been established, researchers are working to begin preparation for a clinical trial. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have conducted a similar study with matching conclusions for similarities between human and canine meningiomas and published their results in the same journal. The 2 groups are planning to collaborate in the future to develop a treatment for both dogs and humans.

“We’re really interested in creating wins for both human and animal medicine,” Levine said. “For example, we hope to give dog owners access to therapy that’s not available anywhere else in the world through clinical trials. At the same time, that information will also inform the next step of human trials.”¹

The next step for researchers is to continue going through the data from both studies to see if anything can lead to potential new therapies.

References

1. Texas A&M researchers find links between human, canine brain tumors. News release. Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. February 20, 2024. Accessed February 22, 2024. https://vetmed.tamu.edu/news/homepage/texas-am-researchers-find-links-between-human-canine-brain-tumor-detection-markers/
2. Harmanci AS, Boudreau B, Lau S, et al. Aggressive human MenG C meningiomas have a molecular counterpart in canines. Acta Neuropathol. 2024;147(1):42. Published 2024 Feb 20. doi:10.1007/s00401-024-02692-3