Advancing Patient Care

Yeonsoo Choi an undergraduate student at Bristol Veterinary School was awarded runner up in the Kennel Club student inspiration award ICHA - Kennel Club Charitable Trust for her project researching acute kidney injury working with our Head of Renal Medicine, Natalie Finch.

India Law a recent Bristol Veterinary School graduate was awarded highly commended in the Companion | BSAVA  student project abstract competition for her project entitled ‘Fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF-23) in cardiorenal syndrome in cats with chronic kidney disease’ undertaken under the supervision of Dr Natalie Finch and Prof Melanie Hezzell.

Canine osteosarcoma is an aggressive bone cancer, predominantly affecting young, large breed dogs. Bone cancers occur when normal bone cells become damaged and divide uncontrollably, forming a mass of growing cells, associated with a local tumour environment. Osteosarcoma is associated with poor survival (50% at 1-year in canines) and there have been no significant advances in treatment or survival in the last five decades. Most dogs with osteosarcoma have tumours on their legs, therefore amputation, sometimes with post-operative chemotherapy, is the recommended treatment. After amputation, the tumour is analysed to confirm a diagnosis of osteosarcoma, and then disposed of in clinical waste. We intend to use waste tumour samples to study osteosarcoma and develop more effective treatment options.

Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment which uses drugs to encourage the immune system to fight cancer. In many cancers, immune cells are switched off and become inert when they enter the tumour, owing to molecules released within the local tumour environment. Blocking immunosuppressive pathways within tumours can reinvigorate the immune system and allow tumour killing. There are no immunotherapies available for canine osteosarcoma at the moment, because the immune response to osteosarcoma is not well understood.

We will stain samples of canine osteosarcoma with fluorescent markers and use a microscope to identify immune cells, extract cells of interest, and analyse their genetic material. Together, these findings will tell us what happens to immune cells when they enter osteosarcoma masses, and help us to identify immunotherapies that can be used in canine osteosarcoma. Together with the VetCompass(TM) programme at the Royal Veterinary College, we also carry out research into the genetics of canine osteosarcoma, looking at which breeds are most at risk with the aim of improving early detection and intervention strategies.

The work will be carried out by Dr Grace Edmunds, a member of our internal medicine team with a PhD in cancer immunology. Grace collaborates with researchers at Cardiff University, the University of Sheffield and the Royal Veterinary College.

We are recruiting osteosarcoma cases, please contact sah@langfordvets.co.uk to refer a case or enquire about enrolling your dog in our studies.

The Mitral Valve Clinic at Langford Vets is run by Prof Melanie Hezzell, a specialist veterinary cardiologist with a PhD in the epidemiology of canine myxomatous mitral valve disease. The Mitral Valve Clinic is a prospective, longitudinal cohort study of canine myxomatous mitral valve disease. Participating dogs typically attend the clinic every 6 months. At each visit they undergo comprehensive monitoring of their disease, including a full clinical examination, blood pressure measurement, an ECG, an ultrasound of their heart and blood and urine tests. The clinic aims to collect information about how the disease develops and progresses over time, and the factors that determine why some dogs have mild, non-progressive disease while others have a severe, rapidly progressive phenotype.

The clinic aims to benefit both current patients, by providing heavily subsidised expert monitoring for dogs with mitral valve disease and future patients, by investigating how and why this disease develops and progresses. Our goal is to develop new treatments and therapies that will improve the dogs’ lives. The clinic also nurtures the next generation of veterinary clinical researchers by providing opportunities for veterinary surgeons to undertake Masters by Research and PhD studentships.

For more information, please contact Melanie Hezzell: mh16511@bristol.ac.uk or Langford Vets Small Animal Hospital reception 0117 394 0513.