The University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine held its 42^nd annual Research Day May 10, 2019, to highlight students’ scientific discoveries. Veterinary professional students, including those who participate in the Veterinary Research Scholars Program, interns, residents, master’s and PhD students, along with postdoctoral fellows, presented their research contributions from the previous year in a poster or oral address.

The day also featured a keynote presentation by University of Missouri Nobel Laureate George Smith, Curators Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biological Science. In his address, “Chemical Evolution with Phage Display,” Smith talked about some of the advances in medicine that built upon his work. Smith received the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. His research led to the production of new antibodies used to cure metastatic cancer and counteract autoimmune diseases.

A total of 73 abstracts were presented during CVM Research Day and $5,375 in prizes were awarded for research excellence. During an afternoon reception, 29 new members were inducted into Phi Zeta, which is the honor society of veterinary medicine.

A photo gallery can be found on the CVM Facebook page.

The following individuals captured awards for their presentations:

Veterinary Professional Students 

Posters:
Kaylie Canda, first place
Prashant Sinha, second place
Tessa Cowser, third place
Kenzi Wattenberger, fourth place

Presentations:
Jenny Howard, first place
Charles Moley, second place

Interns, First-year Residents and Graduate Students

Posters and Presentations:
Monica Witzke, first place
Luis Rivero, second place
Shannon Kelly, third place

Second- and Third-year Residents and Graduate Students

Posters:
Ryan Dashek, first place
Taylor Kelty, second place
Grace Robinson, third place

Presentations:
Catherine Chambers, first place

Advanced Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Students

Posters:
Kevin Kaifer, first place
Rachel Olson, second place
Kari Chesney, third place

Presentations:
Kinsey Hilliard, first place
Rayne Lim, second place
Annie Wolfe, third place

Best Overall: Veterinary Professional Students

Molly Ross
Sally Heil

Best Overall: Interns, Residents, Graduate Students Postdoctoral Students

Alexis Dadelahi

For children with autism, a furry friend may be just the ticket.

Protein could be key to providing a precision medicine treatment to prevent the spread of cancer in people diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, MU study finds

A breast cancer cell is like a house with three locks on the front door. Keys, or receptors, allow drugs to unlock the door and kill the cell. However, in triple-negative breast cancer, these keys are absent, thereby resulting in few options for drug therapy, until now.

A protein called p53 suppresses and kills cancer in people. However, a defective, mutant form of p53 helps cancer cells grow and multiply. Researchers at the University of Missouri have now found that a combination drug therapy reduces the spread of triple negative breast cancer to other locations of the body by 50 percent.

“Most people who succumb to breast cancer, and those in particular with triple-negative breast cancer, do so following metastasis, or spread of the cancer to other organs in the body,” said Salman Hyder, the Zalk Endowed Professor in Tumor Angiogenesis and professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center. “Triple negative breast cancer lacks ways to treat the cancer with chemotherapy. Therefore, people are administered toxic, non-specific drugs. We wanted to see if this combination therapy could provide a new, non-toxic targeted approach for treatment.”

The study built on previous research by Hyder’s lab and used mice that had human metastatic cancer, which had spread into the lungs. Researchers wanted to see if two previously discovered drugs — APR-246 that restores the p53 protein’s ability to kill cancer cells and 2aG4 that targets the blood vessels in order to kill cancer cells — had an effect on metastatic triple negative breast cancer. Hyder says the results are promising.

“The number of metastatic colonies was reduced when both compounds were given separately, and a little more with the combination of the two,” Hyder said. “More importantly, the incidents of breast cancer, that is the number of mice that got cancer, was reduced by 50 percent when both were combined.”

Both APR-246 and 2aG4 are currently in human clinical trials. Researchers hope these findings will help enhance personalized treatment for breast cancer by reducing existing cancer cells and preventing the spread of the cancer to other parts of the body.

This research highlights the power of translational precision medicine and the promise of the proposed initiative at MU. The initiative will bring together industry partners, multiple schools and colleges on campus, and the federal and state government to enable precision and personalized medicine. Scientific advancements made at MU will be effectively translated into new drugs, devices and treatments that deliver customized patient care based on an individual’s genes, environment and lifestyle, ultimately improving health and well-being of people.

Researchers involved with the study included Cynthia Besch-Williford, professor of veterinary pathobiology; Yayun Liang, a research associate professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center at MU; Anthony Belenchia, a postdoctoral research assistant at the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center and the College of Human Environmental Sciences; and Rolf Brekken, a professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and principal investigator in the Hamon Center for Therapeutic Oncology Research.

The study, “Targeting mutant p53 alone or in combination with a phosphatidylserine specific antibody suppresses growth and metastasis of human breast cancer: a strategy towards enhancing personalized medicine,” was presented by Hyder at the 2019 Annual Endocrine Society Meeting in New Orleans.

Story Contact: Eric Stann, 573-882-3346, stanne@missouri.edu

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CVM Research Day 2019 will take place on May 10^th

MU veterinary oncologists develop a vaccine treatment for osteosarcoma, a common type of bone cancer in dogs, avoiding chemotherapy and opening the door for human clinical trials

In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists at the University of Missouri have helped advance a patient-specific, precision medicine treatment for bone cancer in dogs. By creating a vaccine from a dog’s own tumor, scientists worked with ELIAS Animal Health to target specific cancer cells and avoid the toxic side effects of chemotherapy, while also opening the door for future human clinical trials.

Osteosarcoma, or bone cancer, is not common in humans, representing only about 800-900 new cases each year in the U.S. About half of those cases are reported in children and teens. However, for dogs this disease is much more common, with more than 10,000 cases a year occurring in the U.S.

“A vaccine is made out of the dog’s own tumor for the dog’s immune system to recognize,” said Jeffrey Bryan, a professor of oncology at the MU College of Veterinary Medicine and director of Comparative Oncology Radiobiology and Epigenetics Laboratory. “The dogs received no chemotherapy and received only immunotherapy after their surgery. It’s the first time that dogs with osteosarcoma have experienced prolonged survival without receiving chemotherapy, which is really exciting.”

In the study, researchers partnered with ELIAS Animal Health to test a vaccine to treat osteosarcoma by using a dog’s own lymphocytes. Overall, the dogs receiving this therapy had more than 400 days of remission compared to about 270 days for dogs receiving chemotherapy in a separate study by the National Cancer Institute.

“Lymphocytes are immune cells that recognize where pathogens are hiding in the body and then kill the cells harboring those pathogens,” Bryan said. “After we remove the tumor, we create a vaccine using the dog’s tumor cells to stimulate anti-tumor lymphocytes. These lymphocytes are then collected by apheresis and expanded outside the body by Elias Animal Health to create a transfusion of the patient’s immune cells. These cells are activated and essentially really angry at whatever they are supposed to attack. When put back into the body, they should identify and destroy tumor cells. Ideally, this immune response would destroy every last tumor cell.”

Mizzou researchers hope to continue immunotherapy discovery with dogs in order to optimize the new therapy for future human clinical trials with the hopes of treating osteosarcoma and other cancers, especially metastatic osteosarcoma in children. They are currently continuing this work through another immunotherapy trial in progress with a grant by the Morris Animal Foundation through the National Cancer Institute Comparative Oncology Trials Consortium.

Brian Flesner, an assistant professor of oncology at the MU College of Veterinary Medicine, presented this research at the 2018 Veterinary Cancer Society Annual Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. The same data was shared at the 2018 Paws 4 a Cure Conference in Boston by Jeffrey Bryan.