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. 2021 May 7;13(9):2237.
doi: 10.3390/cancers13092237.

Intratumoral (Poly-ICLC) Therapy for Dogs with Advanced Cancers: First Report on Clinical Effectiveness, Quality of Life, and Adverse Events

Alessandra Rinah Nogueira Voges  1 , Rodrigo Ubukata  1 , Karina Velloso Braga Yazbek  2 , Otávia Luisa Caballero  3 , Andres Mario Salazar  4 , Cristina de Oliveira Massoco  5 , Maria Lucia Zaidan Dagli  5
Affiliations

Intratumoral (Poly-ICLC) Therapy for Dogs with Advanced Cancers: First Report on Clinical Effectiveness, Quality of Life, and Adverse Events

Alessandra Rinah Nogueira Voges et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid-poly-l-lysine carboxymethylcellulose (poly-ICLC) is a synthetic double-stranded viral RNA analog widely tested as a component of human therapeutic cancer vaccines and as a standalone agent for treating human cancers. However, there are no reports on the use of poly-ICLC for treating canine cancers. This study aimed to investigate the clinical efficacy, quality of life (QL), and adverse events of poly-ICLC treatment in dogs with advanced cancers. The treatment protocol consisted of weekly intratumoral doses of poly-ICLC. The canine patients underwent clinical, laboratory, and imaging tests, and their owners answered weekly QL questionnaires. Fourteen canine patients with different types of spontaneous advanced tumors were enrolled. Most dogs had received prior conventional therapies. Five dogs received at least 12 doses of poly-ICLC: the injected tumor was stable in three dogs, there was a partial response in one, and the injected tumor significantly enlarged in the other. The QL scoring remained stable or increased in most cases. Mild adverse events related to poly-ICLC were observed in 10 of the 14 patients. The data showed that intratumoral poly-ICLC therapy was well tolerated in dogs with advanced cancers, with clinical benefit and improved QL scores observed in some dogs.

Keywords: cancer; dog; quality of life; therapy; viral RNA.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, but approved the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Spider plot of tumor burden changes during intratumoral Poly-ICLC therapy in 12 patients. The longest diameters of the injected lesions are demonstrated as changes from baseline of one lesion from each dog, except from Dog #10 that had two lesions injected with Poly-ICLC.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Spider plot of quality of life scores during intratumoral poly-ICLC therapy in 12 patients. The quality of life scores are demonstrated as changes from baseline.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Combination chart of the average change from baseline QL scores and tumor response scores during intratumoral poly-ICLC therapy in 12 patients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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