Page 17 - Gates-AnnualReport-2018

There are patients we know that are probably cured with a single infusion,” said Fry. “Some patients can be cured. But if you look at this the other way, more than half of the patients will relapse within a year.”
Dow said that dogs — companion animals that get cancer naturally, similar to humans — are a good model for using immunotherapy to treat cancer. Veterinarians from CSU are, in fact, working with clinicians at Children’s Hospital Colorado to implement a clinical trial for pediatric osteosarcoma.
Dogs get malignant cancers at about twice the rate as humans do. Osteosarcoma is a common cancer in humans and dogs: the tumor arises in the same sites in the bone with dogs and humans, progresses at the same rate and metastasizes in the same way.
Clinicians already know how to slow tumors from metastasizing with chemotherapy. Armed with that knowledge, CSU veterinarians in Dow’s lab — led by Assistant Professor Dan Regan —used Losartan, a drug that has been used to treat high blood pressure and kidney disease, in combination with
chemotherapy to treat osteosarcoma in dogs.
Dow said the team saw very positive results with this therapeutic combination, which prompted CSU to initiate a conversation with clinicians at Children’s Hospital Colorado. A pediatric clinical trial could start in early 2019, Dow said.
Dow is also the recipient of a Gates Grubstake Fund award for promising treatments in chronic wound infections in animals that mimic troublesome, antibiotic-resistant MRSA infections in human joints. Grubstake’s further inter- campus collaborations toward commercialization have been a tremendous help, Dow said. CU Anschutz orthopedic surgeons will be partners in upcoming clinical trials for the treatment.
“For us as veterinarians, it’s nice to see the value of the animal model recognized, while it’s also nice to work with our medical colleagues on the physician side,” Dow said. “Our goal is to treat both humans and animals, and if we can accomplish both that’s a huge win for all of us.”
Forty veterinarians and medical doctors from Japan attended Zoobiquity Colorado.
Keynote Speaker Frank Barry from the National University of Ireland Galway
CBS Medical Correspondant Max Gomez
Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine 17