Injecting immune-boosting medicine into melanoma tumors to help the immune system reject them
Official title: Administration of intratumoral immunocytokine to activate immune rejection of spontaneous canine melanoma
Funded at Wm S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hosp · NIH-11520231 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This gives an immune-boosting drug directly into melanoma tumors in pet dogs to help their T cells find and destroy the cancer.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Wm S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hosp NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Madison, United States) |
| Project start | September 1, 2019 |
| Project end | August 31, 2025 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| NIH project number | 5I01BX003916-06 |
| Project ID | NIH-11520231 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are companion dogs with accessible melanoma tumors (especially those expressing the GD2 target) whose owners agree to treatment, biopsies, and follow-up visits.
✕Less likely to help
Dogs with tumors that cannot be injected, with widespread uncontrolled metastases, severe other illnesses, or tumors lacking the GD2 target are less likely to benefit.
What this research studies
If your dog has melanoma, this work gives a GD2-targeting immunocytokine directly into the tumor and sometimes adds local radiation to turn the tumor into a vaccine that wakes up T cells. Researchers use companion dogs with naturally occurring melanoma because their disease and immune system resemble human melanoma. Veterinarians will take tumor biopsies and blood samples to track immune responses and watch for tumor shrinkage or new metastases. The overall aim is to see whether the injected treatment spurs a broader immune attack against both the treated tumor and distant cancer sites.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could lead to new immunotherapy approaches that teach the immune system to attack melanoma and improve outcomes for both dogs and people.
How similar studies have gone: Related intratumoral immunocytokine approaches produced strong responses in mouse models and promising signals in some canine and early human work, but broader effectiveness is still experimental.
Where this research is happening
-
Wm S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hosp
Madison, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Albertini, Mark R — Wm S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hosp
- Study coordinator: Albertini, Mark R
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.