From cats to humans: New cancer therapy achieves promising results

A targeted therapy tested in domestic cats with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma showed promising results and could become an option for human patients with this type of cancer.

The study, published in Cancer Cell , found that 35% of treated cats managed to control the disease with minimal side effects.

This is the first clinical trial with a drug that blocks the STAT3 transcription factor, which is linked to the progression of solid and hematologic tumors.

According to Daniel Johnson, senior author and a researcher at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, San Francisco , the results indicate that it is possible to inhibit a key factor in tumorigenesis and that pets may be clinical models closer to humans than mice.

The therapy was tested on cats due to the difficulty of treating feline oral tumors, which are often fatal within two to three months of diagnosis. One case was Jak, a 9-year-old cat who was given 6 to 8 weeks to live . After four treatments, he improved and lived for more than eight months, allowing his family to spend more time with him.

A total of 20 cats participated; 7 of them had a partial response or stable disease. The median survival in this group was 161 days, longer than expected. The treatment not only inhibited STAT3 but also increased levels of PD-1, a protein associated with immune response. Adverse effects were limited to mild anemia.

The researchers emphasize that trials in pets offer advantages over murine models, as they share the human environment and present more heterogeneous tumors. They are currently collaborating with a biotechnology company to advance toward clinical studies in cats and humans.