Science on Tap talk to feature potential impact of cancer research on dogs to benefit human cancer patients

Audrey Ruple

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University professor of veterinary medicine Dr. Audrey Ruple will discuss how studying cancer in dogs can have major positive impacts on cancer research in human patients at this week's session of Science on Tap.

Ruple's talk, titled "Dogs - A Cancer Patient's Best Friend" is at 6 p.m. Thursday (Nov. 17) on the top floor of Lafayette Brewing Company, 622 Main St., Lafayette. The informal lecture, sponsored by The College of Veterinary Medicine, is free and open to those 21 and older.

Ruple said cancer is the most common cause of death in developed countries and the second cause worldwide. Cancer also happens to be the leading cause of death in dogs. While scientists have traditionally used genetically engineered mice to research causes and treatments of human cancer, Ruple suggests that the research should now turn to man's best friend - the dog. 

"Though the field of canine cancer epidemiology is relatively new, it has great potential to produce answers to research questions pertaining to cancer prevention, development and treatment relevant to both dogs and humans," Ruple said. "In fact, the canine spontaneous tumor model is actually a better model for use in human cancer epidemiology research than other animal models or even human populations."

Ruple cites several factors for how a closer examination of cancer in dogs can lead to improved research for humans and cancer. For example:

* Dogs spontaneously produce many different types of tumors that are molecularly indistinguishable from human tumors.

* Dog DNA shares a large amount of ancestral sequence with human DNA.

* Dogs have greater genetic homogeneity that simplifies disease mapping at the genomic level.

* Dogs share many similar exposures to environmental factors that may contribute to the development of cancer as humans; and lastly dog tumors progress at a rapid rate.

"These facts, when considered along with the existence of an accelerated aging process in dogs, supports how use of the canine spontaneous tumor model allows us to gain a greater understanding of genetic and environmental contributions to human disease and do so at a rapid pace," Ruple said.

Ruple specializes in comparative oncology, biosecurity and infection control, and companion animal epidemiology in the Department of Comparative Pathobiology at Purdue. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in microbiology, along with her doctorate degree in cell and molecular biology with a specialization in cancer biology and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Colorado State University.

Science on Tap, led by graduate students Andrew Hesselbrock, Paula Cooper and Carolina Vivas Valencia, provides Purdue faculty and collaborating researchers the opportunity to share research activities in an informal setting with presentations that are designed to appeal to a more general audience. Attendance at the event has averaged 80 during the program's first five years.    

Writers: Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu

Paige Pope, 219-363-2599, popep@purdue.edu 

Sources: Audrey Ruple, 765-496-0414, aruplecz@purdue.edu

Carolina Vivas Valencia, cvivas@purdue.edu

Paula Cooper, porourk@purdue.edu