Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in cats is a devastating disease. Roughly 3 out of 1000 cats are effected, and there are no satisfactory treatment options. For well over 90% of cats, OSCC is a death sentence. The disease moves rapidly and, following detection, most cats are compassionately euthanized within a month. Standard chemotherapeutics and radiation have shown little efficacy as front-line treatment options. To make matters worse, cats frequently suffer higher toxicity from common anti-cancer drugs, such as 5-fluorouracil, than do other mammals such as dogs or humans.

Our goal in this study is to generate preliminary data to support a targeted approach to OSCC in cats. Ongoing studies in human oncology have delivered numerous highly targeted agents which are generally safer and better tolerated than standard chemotherapeutics, and which target specific molecular pathways in cancer. We will determine the genetic landscape of OSCC in cats, with a particular interest in oncogenic drivers which can be targeted with existing clinically relevant drugs.

Our plan is to conduct RNA sequencing experiments on 20 feline OSCCs over 2 years. Bioinformatics approaches such as K-means clustering and gene set enrichment analysis will be used to extract information on oncogenic pathways that drive some or all of the tumors. Histological assessments of tumor slices will verify the presence of key proteins involved in these driver pathways. And where possible, we will use cell line model systems of feline OSCC to test clinically relevant drugs which target such pathways.