Cancer immunotherapy adapted to treat pet viruses could help humans fight infections, researcher says

Using blood donated from a healthy cat, and building on a University of Hong Kong breakthrough, scientists inject lab-grown immune system cells in cats

The immunotherapy cures an HIV-like virus that is otherwise untreatable, and shows promise in treating a feline virus similar to Covid-19. Humans could benefit

Reading Time:4 minutes

A cat receives immunotherapy treatment at the CAU Animal Clinic, Hong Kong. The new treatment offers hope against deadly and otherwise untreatable pet diseases, and could have applications to human diseases. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 7:15am, 21 Dec 2020Updated: 7:33am, 21 Dec 2020

When news came in 2018 that the Nobel Prize in Medicine had been awarded to two cancer immunotherapy researchers, an idea flashed through animal-lover Yu Bin’s mind. The dog owner and former researcher with the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Hong Kong began to consider whether immunotherapy could be used to treat animals with diseases deemed incurable.

Together with a group of vets and medical researchers, Yu set up the Hong Kong Animal Diseases Research Fund to study immunotherapy treatments for animals with cancer and other diseases.

Recently, it made a breakthrough: 10 cats it treated were cured of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), a virus affecting the animals that is similar to HIV, the virus that can trigger Aids (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) in people.

Yu says FIV mostly infects stray cats. “There’s currently no medicine to treat it. Pet owners can do nothing but give the sick cats health-boosting products for consumption,” he said. “Our treatment includes a shot per week in the first month. Depending on the condition of the cat, more shots might be needed,” he said. None of the cats his group treated has had a relapse.

Yu Bin, dog owner and former researcher with the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Hong Kong, has developed an immunotherapy treatment for pets. Photo: Simon Song

Like cancer immunotherapy for humans, which involves making immune-system-like substances in a laboratory to boost patients’ immune systems, the treatment developed by Yu’s group involves cultivating natural killer cells – a type of white blood cell in the immune system.