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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Neurology and Neurosurgery
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1532439
This article is part of the Research Topic New Insights in Veterinary Cancer Immunology Volume II View all articles
Immunotherapy yields breed-specific worst survival outcomes among three investigated therapies in French bulldogs with high-grade glioma
Provisionally accepted
Susan A Arnold 1*
Amanda R Taylor 2 Katherine Hansen 3 Vijay Agarwal 4
Walter Low 1
Grace Elizabeth Pluhar 1- 1 University of Minnesota Twin Cities, St. Paul, United States
- 2 Southeast Veterinary Neurology, Virginia Beach, VA, United States
- 3 VCA Bay Area Veterinary Specialists, San Leandro, CA, United States
- 4 Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York City, New York, United States
French bulldogs are one of the most popular dog breeds in the United States and are also among breeds with the highest risk for developing high-grade glioma (HGG). With limited treatment options and high translational value for studying canine HGG to advance understanding of human glioblastoma (GB), a variety of novel treatment options have been investigated. In other forms of cancer, immunotherapy has shown promising results, garnering interest in the treatment of HGG. Yet, when an immunotherapy-based clinical trial was conducted, a marked survival disparity in French bulldog patients compared to other breeds was observed. This retrospective, multiinstitutional study was conducted to examine survival outcomes in immunotherapy-treated French bulldogs compared to closely related breeds, and to French bulldogs treated with several other treatment modalities. French bulldogs treated with immunotherapy experienced significantly shorter overall survival (OS) than boxers and Boston terriers (132 vs. 221 days, respectively). French bulldogs treated with immunotherapy had no significant difference in OS compared to French bulldogs treated palliatively, whereas dogs treated with either a novel therapy involving sonodynamic therapy or stereotactic radiation therapy had significantly longer OS. This study provides evidence for an immunotherapy-resistant form of HGG in French bulldogs, suggesting that the breed harbors key molecular differences affecting the tumor and tumor-immune microenvironment and subsequent poor response to treatment.
Keywords: French bulldog1, high-grade glioma2, oligodendroglioma3, immunotherapy4, radiation therapy5, sonodynamic therapy6
Received: 22 Nov 2024; Accepted: 17 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Arnold, Taylor, Hansen, Agarwal, Low and Pluhar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Susan A Arnold, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, St. Paul, United States
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