Establishment of the Comparative Oncology Program in Iran

Abstract

The role of comparative oncology has been highlighted in recent years. It refers to a discipline in which pets’ cancers are studied in terms of etiology, biology and therapeutic approaches. This part of translational research finds evidences needed to compare pets’ cancers with similar human cancers to generalize obtained results to the medical oncology. As with humans, the prevalence of cancers is increasing in pet animals. Comparative oncology pay particular attention to malignancies in dogs due to the similarities of this animal with human in terms of etiology, morphology, biology, clinical course, prognostic factors and therapeutic methods. Some believe that comparative oncology will find a place in clinical trials of medical oncology in the near future. This is because dogs with cancers can well replace human patients in clinical trials phase I and II. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has launched the Comparative Oncology Trials Consortium (COTC) to provide evidence to replace humans with dogs in clinical trials phase I and II. The increasing interest of Iranians in pet animals has led to an increase in the number of academic medical centers and private veterinary hospitals in recent years. It seems that the incidence of malignancies has been rising increasingly in recent years in dogs due to the sudden increase in pet population, using advanced imaging systems in pet animal treatment centers and development of laboratory centers. The increasing incidence of cancer in pets can prepare the ground for Iranian researchers to enter the arena of comparative oncology program. Authorities are recommended to establish comparative oncology infrastructures in collaboration with cancer research centers and academic veterinary clinics and to conduct studies on etiology, molecular epidemiology and common risk factors; this can facilitate Iran's accession to networks such as the COTC.