Peter and Lee Grogan with their dog Duke, a bull mastiff cross, who received a radical treatment for an aggressive form of cancer. Photo: Naomi Jellicoe
MEET Duke, the healthy bull mastiff cross who is both a walking miracle and potentially mankind’s best friend.
Late in 2014, Duke was fighting for his life with a large and aggressive bone cancer tumour that had grown on his top jaw.
It was progressively closing one eye and making him weak and sick.
“The vet had told us that he wouldn’t make it to Christmas and that there was no treatment except for palliative care,’’ said owner Lee Grogan.
Ms Grogan and husband Peter were devastated that their then seven-year-old dog, named after screen legend John Wayne, would not be around for one of the happiest times of the year.
Fast forward and the dog has seen two more Christmases and hopefully many more to come.
He is also back to his playful best after the tumour dramatically shrank until it was no longer visible.
The key to Duke’s amazing recovery was not a radical new drug but a new understanding of how cycles work in the immune systems of individual animals and people with cancer.
Researchers believe he was saved by a cheap single, low-dose chemotherapy pill.
Dr Noam Pik said Duke’s experimental treatment followed a series of blood tests that identified the precise time when the therapy would have the maximum effect.
“Duke has a very clear cycle so using our mathematical model we were able to give his owners a precise date and time to give him the pill,’’ said Dr Pik, who heads the veterinary division at Melbourne-based biotechnology research company Biotempus.
Dr Pik said that in simple terms, there were the four to nine day cycles within the immune system relating to the growth in cancer-fighting T effector cells and their nemesis — regulatory T cells that keep their numbers in check and help prevent auto-immune diseases.
By using chemotherapy at the precise moment when the regulatory T cells are dividing, there is a temporary spike in the cancer fighting T effector cells.
That can then provoke a very strong immune response to the cancer.
Duke, from Adelaide, received a single, low-dose chemotherapy pill as part of a treatment pioneered by Melbourne biotechnology group Biotempus.Source:News Corp Australia
“It is still in the experimental stage but we are really encouraged by some of the results so far and are looking forward to testing many more dogs in our current clinical trial,’’ said Dr Pik.
There are big implications for fighting cancer in humans from the current dog trial, which is taking place at 20 vet clinics across Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.
Already the Mayo Clinic in the US has done some human trials using the immune system cycling theory arrived at by Biotempus’ chief scientific officer, Martin Ashdown, in 2002.
Some strong clinical results from the dog trial would prompt more research in humans.
“At the moment we are very excited by some of the results so we just want to get as many dogs in the trials as we can,’’ said Dr Pik.
For Lee Grogan, of the Adelaide suburb of Wynn Vale, the real gift has been having Duke back to his curious and caring best.
“It really was like being part of a miracle last year seeing Duke last through to Christmas and get back to his old self as the tumour shrank,’’ said Ms Grogan.
“To think it all happened thanks to a few blood tests and a single pill is amazing because Duke wasn’t put through any painful treatments or surgery.’’
“If our vet hadn’t heard about the trial Duke would have been dead a long time ago now.’’
Dog owners interested in participating in the trial can download an information guide at biotempus.com/vet
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