Eleven-year-old Sinatra is the poster pooch for a promising new melanoma vaccine.
Just one year ago, the sweet Siberian husky was on the verge of death, diagnosed with advanced melanoma – a deadly skin cancer that affects both humans and dogs.
But he’s made an amazing comeback, thanks to an experimental vaccine that’s wiped out all traces of tumors in his body.
“A year ago, our vet gave him only six months to live, but now he’s running around with the energy of a puppy,” says Sinatra’s owner, Cecilia Hohenberger of Floral Park, L.I.
“It is absolutely unbelievable.”
The melanoma vaccine, developed by Memorial Sloan-Kettering researcher Jedd Wolchok, is made of human DNA and stimulates the immune system to recognize and attack deadly skin-cancer cells.
Clinical trials for people are not set to begin for a few months, so investigators tried the vaccine on 10 dogs first, in order to make sure it was safe and effective.
They’ve had astounding results – the vaccine halted cancer growth in four of the canines and, in Sinatra’s case, reversed the disease entirely.
If the vaccine is equally successful in humans, it could be a major breakthrough in treating melanoma, which is expected to be diagnosed in 51,400 people this year, and kills more than 7,000 people annually.
“We were astounded at the vaccine’s success. We’re praying it will have the same effect in humans,” said Anne Hohenhaus, chairman of the department of medicine at the Animal Medical Center.
Hohenberger said she and her husband, George, are thrilled to have their beloved dog back.
“We’ve had Sinatra for as long as we’ve been married. We adopted him from the North Shore Animal League the day after our honeymoon,” she said.
“We didn’t even notice him until we were on our way out. Then we saw him staring at us with these beautiful, beseeching blue eyes. It was love at first sight.”
Next Sunday, Sinatra will be honored at the Dogs Walk Against Cancer, an annual fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society. A portion of the proceeds also will go to the Donaldson-Atwood Cancer Clinic at the Animal Medical Center.
To register for the walk, call (800) ACS-2345, or visit the American Cancer Society Web sites at http://www.dogswalk.org or http://www.cancer.org.
Wolchok, meanwhile, urges dog owners to enroll ailing pooches in cancer studies at the Animal Medical Center.
“The dogs benefit, and we obtain the important safety data needed before beginning human testing,” he said.