A case of canine oral melanoma and treatment with the canine melanoma vaccine

Abstract

An eleven-year-old Labrador Retriever presented to Cornell University with oral melanoma, which is a highly malignant tumor. Conventional treatment (surgery, radiation, chemotherapy) has lead to overall median survival times of 6-12 months. New developments in immunotherapy, more specifically the recently licensed canine melanoma vaccine, offer new potential in the treatment of this aggressive cancer. The vaccine is a promising modality for melanoma therapy that can be used alone or preferably in combination with other conventional treatment modalities.