They live in our houses, drink our water and even sleep in our beds. Cats have become an integral part of many households and share much of our lives.
They also share much of their biology with humans. Pet cats get cancer at a rate similar to humans and often develop the same types of cancer. Just like in humans, as health care and diets have improved, cats are living longer, which puts them at a higher lifetime risk of cancer.
Cats have become an integral part of many households and share much of our lives. They also share much of their biology with humans.
(Geoff Wood)
But how similar are cat cancers to human cancers at the genetic level? Research colleagues and I have conducted the largest-ever cancer DNA sequencing study of cat tumours. Our research reveals striking similarities between feline and human cancers, and the results reveal benefits for cats as well as humans.
Newly published work from our international collaboration studied the tumours of 500 cats, including 13 different tumour types. We isolated DNA from these tumours, and mapped the sequence of 1,000 genes that are often found mutated in human cancers.
Cat and human cancers
Overall, the most commonly mutated gene was a cancer protective gene called TP53, which is also the most commonly mutated gene in human cancers. Another example is the gene PIK3CA, which is mutated in about 40 per cent of human breast cancers and was found to be altered in about 50 per cent of cat mammary cancers.
There are drugs that have been specifically developed to work on human cancers with certain mutations like those in PIK3CA. Now that we know what mutations are common in cat cancers, there is an opportunity to test these drugs for treating cats.
Cat cancers frequently develop spontaneously in the exact same environment as humans.
(Unsplash/River Kao)
How do we study cancer in cats? Since 2009, the Ontario Veterinary College’s Veterinary Biobank, part of the Institute for Comparative Cancer Investigation at the University of Guelph, has been banking samples of tumours from cats treated at the Animal Cancer Centre.
With owner consent, part of a cat’s tumour that is already being removed during surgery is saved and frozen for future studies. Also banked are blood samples, which serve as a resource for developing more non-invasive cancer tests using cancer-associated molecules found in blood.
Recently, the Veterinary Biobank has joined the Ontario Biobanks consortium of human biobanks to help facilitate more cross-species cancer studies. In addition, cancer clinical trials are being conducted in cat and dog patients to help translate research findings into better outcomes for pets with cancer, and to better inform us about human cancers as well.
Read more:
Treating pets for cancer can revolutionize care for humans
Cats can potentially teach us quite a lot about human cancer.