

INNOVATIVE SCREENING & TREATMENT PROGRAMME AVAILABLE FOR CANINE
LYMPHOMA CANCER

Important Breakthrough in the Treatment of One of the Biggest Cancer
Killers in Dogs is a British First
October 23, 2006, Nottingham, England ----PR Newswire ---- AN
EFFECTIVE and innovative screening, detection and treatment programme
for canine lymphoma, one of the most prolific cancers in dogs has been
announced by PetScreen, a pioneering British bioscience company. It
is the first of its kind to be made commercially available from
PetScreen’s Veterinary Cancer Programme, which was launched in the
United States in January and in the UK in April at leading veterinary
conference and congress events. The lymphoma screen comes after
extensive research by PetScreen in both British and North American
markets into canine
cancer, and will be available through selected veterinary
hospitals and primary practices in both markets. The screen itself is
based on technology which has emerged post the sequencing of both the
human and canine genome and enables malignancies to be detected
earlier, when treatment has the best chance of success.
Inexpensive, convenient and minimally invasive the screen relies on a
small blood serum sample. PetScreen has developed advanced
‘proteomic’ technology uniquely for companion animals, specifically
canine at this moment. Their system looks for characteristic patterns
to detect lymphoma biomarkers from the blood ‘fingerprint’. Ideally,
a mature puppy would be sampled at twelve months, thereafter yearly,
but in high risk breeds a six monthly screen is recommended. In
addition, any dog which may have been treated for lymphoma should be
screened bi-annually for recurrence.
UK published evidence says that 25% of all cancers in dogs is
attributed to lymphoma. High risk breeds in both the UK and US for
lymphoma cancer include golden and flat-coated retrievers, german
shepherds, bull mastiffs and certain breeds of spaniels, including
English and Irish water spaniels. At risk breeds include boxers,
Bernese mountain dogs and rottweilers. Whilst this list is by no
means exhaustive the screen should be regarded as part of an overall
wellness programme for all breeds. If cancer is detected, a combined
rapid histopathology and individualised chemotherapy programme is
available which helps select the most effective treatment for each
individual patient. PetScreen’s Directed Chemotherapy Assay (DCA)
highlights resistance from the start and identifies the treatment most
likely to be effective from the start. PetScreen is one of a new
generation of companies to utilise
technologies which are emerging as a result of genome research.
Using advanced bio-marker technology linked to state-of-the-art mass
spectrometry, robotics and unique neural software, the serum sample
creates the fingerprint which patterns proteins in the blood and
enables cancers to be identified. The problems associated with the
late detection of cancers are well understood, and whilst proteomic
screening is still at an early stage in humans, the work that
PetScreen are undertaking in the canine world could have a significant
impact on human cancer screening in the very near future.
www.pet-screen.com:
PetScreen: Detecting and Treating Cancer BioCity Pennyfoot Street
Nottingham NG1 1GF United Kingdom
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Professor Graeme Radcliffe
Chairman PetScreen Limited
BioCity Nottingham
Pennyfoot Street
Nottingham
NG1 1GF
UK
graeme.radcliffe@btconnect.com
www.pet-screen.com
tel: 08000 284 811 (Free - UK Only)
fax: 0115 912 4431
mobile: +44 (0)115 912 4430
+44 (0)115 912 4431
07785 238427