One out of four dogs will develop cancer in their lifetime and 20 per cent of those will be lymphoma cases. A team of researchers from the University of Leicester has helped Avacta Animal Health Ltd to develop a new user-friendly electronic system for diagnosing lymphoma in dogs in the early stages, and for remission monitoring.
Marketed as cLBT (canine lymphoma blood test), this is the first test of its kind to track the remission monitoring status of a dog after undergoing chemotherapy.
Led by Professor Alexander Gorban from the University's Department of Mathematics, the University team together with experts from Avacta elaborated technology for differential diagnosis of canine lymphoma and for remission monitoring.
This technology is based on the cLBT, which detects the levels of two biomarkers, the acute phase proteins C-Reactive Protein and Haptoglobin.
Avacta Animal Health Ltd has been actively involved in developing new tests for canine lymphoma. Having collected a substantial library of biological samples in order to conduct research in this area, they have tested the data by working closely with the University of Leicester and its leading statistical and data processing techniques. Researchers analysed clinical data, tested various machine learning methods and selected the best approach to these problems.
Alexander Gorban, Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Leicester, said: "This was a very interesting project, and Avacta was a very dedicated, focused company, with clear goals and objectives. There were very important and useful ideas and concepts involved in the study, and it was a pleasure to know that our expertise as a department was needed and could be utilised through working alongside Avacta's professional expertise.
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During the study, which was funded by the University's Innovation Partnership project, the academic team selected the best method to work with the data collected by Avacta and prepared the online diagnostic system over a period of six months. These methods included further development of the system for canine lymphoma differential diagnosis and for remission monitoring.
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Source-Eurekalert