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 Vol. II, Issue #4  Free Newsletter-Published Monthly by SparkyFightsBack.com

April, 2006         spring, and there's hope in the air

Recent News, Events and Tips on Animal Cancer
Compiled For All Animal Caretakers by Josée Clerens and John Clifton, Co-Authors of "Sparky Fights Back: A Little Dog's Big Battle Against Cancer"
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Authors'
Corner

New 2-function Cell Discovered

Vaccine Fights Melanoma

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fact of the month:
Having a pet is good for the heart: dog owners who suffer heart attacks or irregular heartbeats are 8.5 times more likely to be alive 1 year after the diagnosis than non-dog owners. 

AUTHORS' CORNER

A Free Gift For You!

We got a lot of nice feedback about our last issue that listed all the Veterinary Teaching Schools. Thanks, everybody, we love to hear from you! !

To show our appreciation, we're sending each and every one of you a free copy of our book...  Just kidding!!  We wish we could afford to do that! But here's something we can do: WE ARE OFFERING YOU A FREE COPY OF SPARKY'S FAMOUS WALL CHART. This chart is the same one that's included with "Sparky Fights Back" when folks purchase the book from us.  It shows Sparky's TOP 10 HEALTHY and TOP 10 UNHEALTHY foods for dogs.

Sparky's Top 10 Wall ChartTo get the wall chart, all you have to do is download it and print it on your color or black-and-white printer. It's just our way of saying "thank you" to readers of our newsletter as well as listeners to John's radio and TV interviews. Enjoy! Here's the link to download now: http://www.SparkyFightsBack.com/chart

Many of you continue to "spread the word" about our work by forwarding this newsletter to other dog caretakers. We should soon be up to 8,000 subscribers. THANK YOU!!

"Success in all your battles,"

    -- Josée and John

Got ideas? Please continue to e-mail news items to us at authors@sparkyfightsback.com .  


NEWLY DISCOVERED CELL FIGHTS CANCER 

Amazing Two-in-one Cell Kills Cancer Cells, Then Informs Immune System

A new hybrid cell has been discovered by researchers in the United States and France that combines two separate functions normally thought of as being performed by two different types of cell. There are, firstly, Natural Killer (NK) cells, whose job it is to poke fatal holes into invasive cells carrying bacteria and viruses and other bad stuff. Then there are "dendritic" cells, which identify invaders and spread the word through the immune system, but don't do any cell-killing themselves.

Now comes a cell that does both! The implications are pretty astounding, although much work and more study has to be done in order to put these new cells into the regular arsenal of cancer-fighters. 

In order to better understand what this is all about, we asked Dr. Gerald Post, DVM, a leading animal oncologist (and Sparky's own doctor, who plays a leading part in our book). "Could you shed some light on this and help us to better understand it?" we asked. 

Here's his reply:

"Basically the researchers discovered a type of immune cell that serves two functions. One function is that of a killer cell; basically Gerald Post, DVM a cell that when it discovers a foreign cell/infected cell/tumor cell within the body secretes chemicals that kill the cell. The other function is that of a dendritic cell, these cells process and present antigens. When a foreign antigen (bacteria. virus, tumor, parasite, etc) is detected by the immune system, it needs to be “processed” so that the other immune cells in the body can more easily recognize it. Dendritic cells are probably the most efficient type of these cells in the body. So the amazing part of the discovery is that these previously unknown cells can perform both functions."

So much is happening these days in the world of cancer research! It seems to us like we're getting exponentially closer to the day when cancer will no longer be the major threat that it has been. Hope we're right! 
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MELANOMA MIRACLE?

Vaccine Shows Promise For Many Dogs With Melanoma

If you're a regular reader of these pages, you know that we're not exactly enamored of vaccines, the cancer-triggering dangers of which we've been  writing about for some time now. So you may be surprised to hear us wax enthusiastic about this one - a vaccination for CANCER!

The University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine has been working on a vaccine for dogs with melanoma - a canine form of the human skin cancer. They've been conducting a nationwide study, and the results so far seem promising. We've got to admit that the idea of a vaccine that fights cancer makes sense. This is a vaccine created directly from canine melanoma cells, and the Wisconsin folks have been getting some nice results.

It seems spooky to inject cancer cells into the body. But the trick here is that the cells have been treated so that they can't divide and thereby increase their numbers. Reminds us of "killed virus" cells; sort of the same idea. 

To learn more about the program contact the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine's Advancement Office at (608) 263-5152.
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MEDICAL DISCLAIMER
This newsletter is for informational purposes only, and the intent is to provide sources of possible veterinary assistance, treatments and other help for owners of animals with cancer. The authors do not in any way endorse or make claims for any of the medical personnel, medical facilities, treatments, therapies, medicines, or methods recommended, described or quoted herein. Nothing herein should be deemed to be medical or veterinary advice, since no doctors or veterinarians are employed by or connected with this publication. Visitors are directed to consult with licensed veterinarians for all medical advice. Although every effort is made to avoid factual errors, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any of the content of publication.

 

Find out more about our book.To order 

"Sparky Fights Back: A Little Dog's Big Battle Against Cancer,"
  
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