Source: French to English Tester Published on: 2026-05-08
Source: The Conversation – in French– By Geoffrey Wood, Professor, Co-Director, Institute for Comparative Cancer Investigation, University of Guelph
Cats live in our homes, drink our water, and even sleep in our beds. They are full members of many households and share our lives.
They also present somemany biological similaritieswith us. Cats have a cancer rate similar to that of humans and often develop the same types of cancer. As with humans, improvements in healthcare and nutrition allow them to live longer, which increases their risk of developing cancer during their lifetime.
(Geoff Wood)
With my colleagues, we wondered whether feline cancers resembled human cancers genetically? We conducted the largest study ever carried out on DNA sequencing of cat tumors. Our research revealed striking similarities between feline and human cancers, and the results suggest positive implications for both cats and us.
Our international collaboration has enabled us torecently publish a studyfocusing on tumors of 500 cats and covering 13 types of tumors. We isolated the DNA from these tumors and mapped the sequence of 1,000 genes that often have mutations in human cancers.
Feline and human cancers
Overall, the gene that has mutated most often is the TP5 gene, aprotection against cancer, which is also the most frequently mutated in human cancers. Another example is the PIK3CA gene, whichinvolves a mutation in about 40% of breast cancersin humans and which has been found to be altered in about 50% of mammary cancers in cats.
There are drugs specifically designed for human cancers with certain mutations, such as those in the PIK3CA gene. Now that we know the common mutations in feline cancers, it is possible to test these drugs on cats.
How do we study cancer in cats? Since 2009, theveterinary biobankfrom the Ontario Veterinary College, which is part of the Comparative Cancer Research Institute at the University of Guelph, preserves tumor samples from cats treated atAnimal Cancer Center.
With the owner’s consent, a portion of the tumor removed during the surgical intervention is preserved and frozen for future studies. Additionally, blood samples are stored to serve as a resource for developing less invasive screening tests, using molecules associated with the disease present in the blood.
Recently, the veterinary biobank joined the consortiumOntario Biobanksin order to facilitate cancer studies across species. Someclinical trials on cancerare also conducted in cats and dogs, with the aim of using the research results to design better treatments for pets, but also to help us better understand human cancers.
Cats can teach us a lot about human cancers. There are several cancers or cancer subtypes that are common in cats but rare in us. The “triple-negative” breast cancer — characterized by the absence of estrogen and progesterone receptors, and the HER2 growth factor receptor — is by far the most common subtype in cats. However, it only represents15% of breast cancers in humans.
This subtype mainly affects young women, Black women, and those with a hereditary genetic predisposition (BRCA1 gene mutation). It is particularly aggressive and difficult to treat.
Pancreatic cancer is another example. The acinar subtype, the most common in cats, is relatively rare in humans. It is therefore easier to conduct studies on this type of cancer in cats.
Our study on genomic sequencing in cats also revealed some differences in mutation profiles between human and feline cancers. Approximately 25% of human cancers exhibit mutations inRAS genes, while these mutations are rare in cats. The study of these cancers in cats could help us better understand the role of these genes in the development of the disease.
Mouse and cat genomes
Charitable cancer-fighting organizations and agencies that grant funding for human health research regularly support studies using human cancer models in rodents, but the study of cancer in other animal species is more difficult to get accepted.
The rodents used as models are genetically modified to develop cancer or to have a severely deficient immune system, in order to be able to host human cancer cells.
These models are very effective for studying the molecular mechanisms of cancer, but their track record in terms of anticancer drugs is poor. Indeed, more than 90% of new anticancer treatments developed from these models fail duringhuman clinical trialsand are never authorized for therapeutic purposes.
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On the other hand, cancer often develops spontaneously in cats in the same environment as in humans. These animals also exhibit many underlying or concurrent disorders similar to ours, such as obesity, autoimmune diseases, kidney diseases, diabetes, and various other endocrine disorders.
The cat genome resembles that of humans more than that of mice, and the organization of the feline genome (the order of genes on the chromosomes) iscloser to that of the human beingthan that of the dog.
The Cancer Genome Atlasis a massive open-access database that catalogs mutations observed in different types of cancer in humans. No resource of this kind exists for cats.
The data from our recent publication is now available via theWellcome Sanger Institute. They will constitute a fundamental and free resource for researchers studying cancer in cats and humans, benefiting both species.
Geoffrey Wood benefits from funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Pet Trust, and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.
–ref. What cats can teach us about human cancers –https://theconversation.com/what-cats-can-teach-us-about-human-cancers-277929