Pet animals, especially dogs, can serve as an alert for oncological diseases in humans, since they share the same environmental exposure with the human species, according to a study by the Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (ISPUP) and the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS).
The research, recently published in The Veterinary Journal, is part of the field of comparative oncology, a branch of science that seeks to study cancer in animal species, in order to establish comparisons with humans and assist in the research of the disease.
About 70% of cancer cases are caused by environmental factors, evidencing the weight of external agents in the occurrence of oncological diseases, both in people and in animals. Because animals have a shorter life span, they can serve as warnings for hazards to which the population may be exposed.
Considering this, the present study analyzed the geographic distribution of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (a lymphocyte neoplasm, the body’s defense cells) in humans and dogs in the Greater Porto area, and evaluated its similarities and epidemiological characteristics.
“We chose non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma for this study, because it is a cancer that presents many similarities between humans and animals, both clinically and from the point of view of pathology and physiology, and also because there is no estimate on the incidence of this type of lymphoma in Greater Porto”, explains Katia Pinello, a member of the Department of Veterinary Public Health of ISPUP and the first author of the research, coordinated by Augusto Matos, ICBAS, and João Niza Ribeiro, ISPUP and ICBAS.
The researchers georeferenced the cases of this lymphoma in humans and dogs, and found that there is a geographical correlation, that is, where there is a higher prevalence of human cases, there is also a higher prevalence in dogs. The urban areas of Porto, Matosinhos and Maia are those that have more cases of cancer.
“This is further evidence that where there is cancer in humans, there is also cancer in dogs, so there may be some environmental factor that causes the disease in both species“, says the researcher.
The study also highlights the great similarity between the epidemiological characteristics of canine and human lymphoma. There is a higher incidence of this type of cancer in men and in males. As for the female sex, the lymphoma appears earlier in female dogs and later in women.
According to Katia Pinello, “this work reinforces the idea of the importance of animals as sentinels for the onset of oncological diseases and underlines their relevance to cancer research and prevention of cancer. Our goal is to insert the animals as a whole into the concept of “One Health”, which recognizes that human, animal, and ecosystem health is intertwined”.
The researcher adds that it is critical to start raising awareness among physicians and environmentalists to the importance of animals in this area.
“Just as patients are asked if any family members have or had a cancer, it would be pertinent to ask whether pets also have or have had the condition. Many owners repeatedly have companion animals with cancer and this may be a warning that something may not be right from the environmental point of view. Moreover, a cancer diagnosis of an animal is equally important to obtain more relevant information”, she concludes.
In the future, researchers aim to create a network for the observation of diseases in companion animals, gathering and analyzing more data and making other national and international comparative studies possible.
The study entitled “Incidence, characteristics and geographical distributions of canine and human non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the Porto region (North West Portugal)”. The researcher Luís Fonseca, from Mapis (Mapping Intelligent Solutions), also participated in the work.
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