Recent Advances in the Discovery of Biomarkers for Canine Osteosarcoma

Anita K Luu; Geoffrey A Wood; Alicia M Viloria-Petit

doi:10.3389/fvets.2021.734965

Recent Advances in the Discovery of Biomarkers for Canine Osteosarcoma

Front Vet Sci. 2021 Oct 1:8:734965. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2021.734965. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Anita K Luu¹, Geoffrey A Wood², Alicia M Viloria-Petit¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical Sciences, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
² Department of Pathobiology, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.

Abstract

Canine osteosarcoma (OSA) is an aggressive malignancy that frequently metastasizes to the lung and bone. Not only has there been essentially no improvement in therapeutic outcome over the past 3 decades, but there is also a lack of reliable biomarkers in clinical practice. This makes it difficult to discriminate which patients will most benefit from the standard treatment of amputation and adjuvant chemotherapy. The development of reliable diagnostic biomarkers could aid in the clinical diagnosis of primary OSA and metastasis; while prognostic, and predictive biomarkers could allow clinicians to stratify patients to predict response to treatment and outcome. This review summarizes biomarkers that have been explored in canine OSA to date. The focus is on molecular biomarkers identified in tumor samples as well as emerging biomarkers that have been identified in blood-based (liquid) biopsies, including circulating tumor cells, microRNAs, and extracellular vesicles. Lastly, we propose future directions in biomarker research to ensure they can be incorporated into a clinical setting.

Keywords: biomarker; canine osteosarcoma; extracellular vesicles; liquid biopsy; microRNA (miRNA); personalized medicine; tissue biopsies.

Publication types

Review