UQ vets need volunteers to trial promising cancer treatment for dogs

“For the immune system to mobilise and look for things which are harming the body it has to pick up on what’s called the danger signal,” Associate Professor Allavena said.

“And then it also has to pick up on some sort of foreign body where it shouldn’t be. If there are both of those things the immune system will respond and attack the cancer.”

Cancer naturally uses several mechanisms to avoid detection by the body’s immune system, which is why immunotherapy is considered such a promising field of study in both humans and canines.

The current trial is being led by UQ veterinarian Dr Matthew Weston, off the back of a previous trial which showed promising results.

“It was an incredible trial where the tumours disappeared…