Dogs with cancer may survive longer with high cholesterol 

High levels of cholesterol, which may prove detrimental to human health, may play a key role in longer survival and better prognosis for dogs with a common form of bone cancer, researchers have found.

Study shows:

• The findings showed that elevated total cholesterol was significantly associated with a reduced risk for overall mortality in dogs with osteosarcoma.
• Osteosarcoma, a type of malignant tumour that’s often diagnosed in humans as well, typically afflicting teenagers and young adults.
• Haley Leeper, a veterinary oncology resident at the Oregon State University in the US.
• Said,when people think of cholesterol they think of cheeseburgers and heart attacks.
• However, cholesterol is involve with many key processes and structures in the body like cell membranes, bone health and the immune system.
• For the study, published in the Journal of Small Animal Practice.
• Leeper and the team compared 64 dogs with osteosarcoma against two control groups.
• 30 dogs that had suffered traumatic bone fractures and 31 healthy dogs similar in age and weight to the animals with cancer.

Results Showed:

• The results showed that the dogs with elevated total cholesterol had a median survival time of 455 days.
• More than 200 days than the median survival time for dogs with normal cholesterol.
• Nearly half of the dogs with cancer 29 of the 64 had elevated levels of total serum cholesterol.
• In addition,a dramatically higher rate than occurred in either control numbers.
• Furthermore,just three of the 30 dogs with broken bones, and only two of the 31 healthy animals, showed high cholesterol.
• “This is one of the first steps into identifying cholesterol as a potential biomarker for canine osteosarcoma,” Leeper said.
• Researchers do not have answers as to why high cholesterol is associated with this disease and with a better prognosis.
• But future studies that follow dogs.
• Lipid content in the blood may shed light on the mechanisms behind cholesterol’s role in enhanced survival.