Cat Cancer Study May Benefit Pets and People
Thursday, October 1, 2026118 words2 minutes2264 reads
Scientists studied cancer samples from almost 500 pet cats in five countries. They looked for genetic changes that help tumors grow. Many of the same cancer-related genes are also found in people and dogs.
One example is a gene called FBXW7. More than half of the cat breast tumors in the study had a change in this gene. A similar change is linked with human breast cancer.
The team also tested some medicines on cat tumor tissue. Certain drugs worked better on samples with the gene change. But this was a test on tissue, not on living cats. Researchers hope the findings will help veterinarians improve care for cats and may give human cancer research useful clues too.
