CSU Conducting Trials for Canine Cancer Prevention Vaccine

Colorado State University's Veterinary Teaching Hospital is holding clinical trials for a canine cancer prevention vaccine.

According to the Greeley Tribune, The Vaccination Against Canine Cancer study, which is the largest canine clinical trial ever conducted, is being done on about 150 dogs at four sites across the country: CSU, Arizona State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of California-Davis.

Of course, these trials could soon lead to human trials which would aim to prevent cancer in its early stages.

It doesn't matter how wealthy or even how healthy you appear to be, cancer affects everyone. My first experience with cancer was when my childhood dog, Candy, had to be put down after her quality of life was no longer justifiable. When I was in high school, my grandmother died of cancer and my grandfather died just three years ago from lung cancer. He started smoking during his time in the Vietnam war and smoked for about twenty years after it ended.

The crazy thing is, you don't have to have certain lifestyle habits to get cancer. There are carcinogens in the food we eat, the chemicals in our furniture,  and in the very air we breathe depending on where you live.

Dr. Douglas Thamm, the Director of Clinical Research at the Flint Animal Cancer Center and CSU’s James L. Voss of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, said  “This is the first trial ever conducted with the intent of trying to prevent a bunch of different kinds of cancer simultaneously,”