World Cancer Research Day highlights the importance of research in the fight against cancer – whether patients are on two legs or four.
Cancer takes so much from us all and the fight to understand, treat and overcome it continues. At Humanimal Trust, we fund comparative cancer research because studying naturally occurring cancers in humans and animals can help us learn more about the disease and improve treatment for both.
A £200,000 investment in cancer research
A year ago we awarded £200,000 – Humanimal Trust’s biggest ever research award – to a pioneering Cancer Discovery Fund project, led by researchers at the University of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian. The team is now six months into its research phase, investigating oronasal mucosal melanoma (OMM), a rare but highly aggressive cancer in people and one of the most common oral cancers in dogs.
One cancer. Two species.
While cancer is often thought of as a human disease, animals can develop many of the same cancers. OMM is of particular interest because it occurs in both dogs and people, and shares important biological characteristics across species, including tumour behaviour, genetic changes and patterns of metastasis.
In people, mucosal melanoma is rare but particularly aggressive. Reported five-year survival is around 25-33 per cent, with approximately one-third of patients having lymph-node metastasis when diagnosed. In dogs, previous research has reported that around 75 per cent of oral melanoma cases eventually spread to regional lymph nodes and/or lungs.
For dogs, the disease can also have a devastating impact. Previous research has reported median survival following surgery of approximately 17-18 months for stage I disease, falling to around three months for stage III disease.
Developing a gene-based assay
Professor Kelly Blacklock, Professor Elizabeth Patton and Dr Mark Stares are working to develop a gene-based assay that can analyse the genetic profile of individual tumours.
Professor Kelly Blacklock said: “Oral melanoma provides a particularly valuable opportunity to investigate cancer across species because the disease occurs in both dogs and people and shares important biological characteristics.
“By studying the genetic and molecular features of individual tumours, we hope to improve our understanding of why cancers behave differently between patients and, ultimately, contribute to the development of more personalised approaches to treatment.”
Studying cancer as it naturally occurs
Dogs therefore offer researchers an opportunity to study cancer as it occurs naturally, in an animal that shares our environment and in which tumours develop, spread and respond to treatment in ways that closely resemble human disease.
The project is also building on recent research into canine melanoma that illustrates the potential of this approach. A 2025 study led by researchers at the University of Edinburgh found important molecular similarities between mucosal melanoma in humans and dogs, and a canine clinical trial at Edinburgh is currently exploring this further.
One Medicine in action
The project is an example of Humanimal Trust’s One Medicine approach – bringing together human and veterinary medicine so that knowledge, expertise and discoveries can be shared for the benefit of both people and animals.
Dr Alexandra Dedman, Science and Research Outreach Manager at Humanimal Trust, said: “Cancer affects humans and animals alike, but traditionally we have often studied these diseases separately. One Medicine asks what could happen if we looked at disease across species and brought the expertise of doctors, vets and researchers together.
“This project is a wonderful example of that approach. By studying a cancer that occurs naturally in dogs and shares important characteristics with human disease, we have an opportunity to learn from both species.”
Continuing the research
The research team is now continuing its work to develop and evaluate the gene-based assay and build the evidence needed to understand the relationship between tumour genetics, disease behaviour and treatment response.
We look forward to sharing more updates as the project progresses.