Lung Cancer Immunotherapy: Dogs Help Find New Protein to Fend Malignant Tumors Off, Even on Humans

Lung cancer is one of the most notorious forms of malignant tumors or cancerous lumps in general.

It could cause lethal health repercussions, especially if the cancer cells spread uncontrollably within the body's organs and its tissues.

For years, the scientific community has attempted to conduct various ways in the area of lung cancer diagnosis and treatment.

While conventional chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and surgery could help in the treatment or mitigation of lung cancer, there is still no universal cure for the deadly respiratory cancer, until a recent study may hold a potential one.

In a new study, cancer researchers from the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) used both humans and their companion dogs to find a new approach on lung cancer immunotherapy involving a protein that is naturally produced by the body.

Lung Cancer Immunotherapy

In a media release of UC Davis Health on June 10, the researchers announced that the body's defense mechanisms such as the T-cells and natural killer (NK) cells is the study's ground for a new approach in the context of lung cancer immunotherapy and the development of a potential cancer cure or cancer treatment.

The study has been published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, where the scientists administered the protein called interleukin-15 (IL-15) to 21 pet dogs with lung disease under the Phase 1 clinical trial.

This is the first time a method of its kind was performed.

The result yields that IL-15 could suppress the advancement of metastatic cancer.

What is Lung Cancer?

Lung cancer starts in the lungs and could spread throughout the body via lymph nodes and other organs, including the brain.

This kind of cancer has been divided into two main types: small cell and non-small cell, which includes adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) consider lung cancer to be the third most common cancer.

In 2019, new confirmed cases of people with lung cancer reached 221,097, while 139,601 people died from it.

The CDC emphasized males had higher chances of acquiring the cancer and dying from it compared to females.

Also called lung carcinoma, lung cancers are mostly carcinomas, which are malignant tumors pertaining to cancerous cells, growing in an unstoppable fashion in the tissues of the lung.

While other types of cancer are unprecedented in some cases, lung cancer is also reportedly affected by the lifestyle of a person.

Lung Cancer Development

According to the American Lung Association (ALA), the following are the causes and risk factors of lung cancer:

• Smoking
• Radon
• Hazardous chemicals
• Particle pollution
• Genes

The ALA specifies that smoking is the no. 1 cause of lung cancer development and it is responsible for causing approximately 90% of all lung cancer cases.

Both smokers and non-smokers are at risk, wherein even the latter could be affected by inhaling secondhand smoke from the primary smoker.

Radon exposure is the second on the list and it is a colorless, odorless radioactive gas found in natural soil.

In the US, one out of every 15 homes are at risk to radon exposure, the association adds.

Meanwhile, hazardous chemicals or materials like asbestos, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel, uranium, and some petroleum products are dangerous, especially if an individual's workplace involve these types of toxic compounds.