Why not use rats or mice instead of dogs?
It may or may not be true that the growth and invasion patterns of glioma in dogs more closely approximate those in humans, but a model that is not empirically available, holds no use for the study of tumors in dogs or humans. In addition, some researchers suggest that tumors implanted on the brain of an animal have very limited use and applicability to the study of gliomas and treatment of gliomas in dogs or humans. Several large glioma research projects exist in this country and in the United Kingdom in which veterinarians carefully screen and recruit animals with naturally occurring tumors for participation in these projects to circumvent the problems inherent with artificially implanted tumors in animals. Perhaps the true intent of this funded canine glioma project is, as stated by Dr. Berens in a letter to me, to create animals for use in FDA testing and similar uses. There are enough canine glioma models available for this purpose already.
