VOSRC’s Work in Animal Cancer Treatment Is Rooted in Experience

In addition to her work as a clinician, Dr. K. Ann Jeglum is a well-known researcher. Much of her work has been in developmental therapeutics using immunotherapy (treatment of a disease through enhancing the natural immune response). Her initial work resulted in the development of autologous tumor cell vaccines derived from the animal’s own tumors. In this instance, administration of lymphoma vaccines from the dog’s own lymph nodes following remission induction with chemotherapy resulted in longer remission durations and survival times when compared to chemotherapy alone. This pioneering work led to the development and commercialization of .a canine lymphoma monoclonal antibody, CL MAb 231, that became available in the 1990s. Monoclonal antibody therapy has become a gold standard of therapy for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in humans.

In another research program, a human cell line, TALL-104, derived from a child with a rare leukemia, was shown in the laboratory to kill tumor cell lines of various species, including dogs and humans. Clinical trials were conducted at VOSRC in a variety of cancers of dogs. Histiocytic sarcoma and osteosarcoma showed promising results, although the technology has a number of limitations for practical application. Although TALL-104 has become unavailable in veterinary medicine, there are ongoing human clinical trials.