The goal for this project is to develop a reliable, accessible, and actionable test to identify dogs at risk for hemangiosarcoma during the earliest stages of disease and to use a strategic, rationally designed approach to prevent its occurrence in these high-risk dogs before it becomes clinically detrimental and life-threatening. The study has two objectives. The first is to determine the most reasonable duration of an SOS test result. In other words, how long can a low-risk SOS test result be trusted and how much time might elapse between a high-risk SOS test result and the development of hemangiosarcoma. The second aim is to continue periodic testing for dogs previously enrolled in the Shine On study whose test result would have placed them in a high-risk category for development of hemangiosarcoma, and to provide eBAT as a strategy for prevention in 12 of these dogs.
To complete the first objective, we are conducting surveys to determine the health status of every dog enrolled in Shine On phase-3 (the early detection phase) at 6-month intervals. This effort will continue throughout the duration of the study.
To complete the second objective, we have finalized the analysis of the data from Shine On phase-1 (used as the “training set” for SOS test) and applied those results to dogs from phase-3 to select candidates for continued, periodic testing. We expect to send out notifications to owners of eligible dogs and begin active testing during the first quarter of 2021 if the COVID-19 pandemic abates and conditions across the country are adequate and safe for individuals to take their dog to the veterinarian for blood draws, as well as for travel to St. Paul, MN for eBAT prevention.
Mid-Year-1 Research Update Dr. Modiano following up participants in shine-on hemangiosarcoma study.
