Congratulations to Dr. Christopher Pinard, an Ontario Veterinary College DVM 2016 graduate, on his recent research presentation award. Pinard is a third-year oncology resident currently completing his DVSc in oncology in OVC’s Department of Clinical Studies.
He recently received the E. Gregory MacEwen Memorial Award for outstanding oral presentation in basic science research at the Veterinary Cancer Society Annual Conference, where he presented his research project “PD-1 and PD-L1 expression on canine urothelial carcinoma cell lines and the relative expression of lymphocyte PD-1 in canine urothelial carcinoma patients.”
Cancer has a unique way of escaping detection by the immune system, preventing the body from properly attacking and eradicating cancerous cells. “Therapies to reverse this tumour immune suppression in people have been developed, which re-ignite the immune response to improve survival for many types of cancer,” says Pinard. Much work has been put into human bladder cancers and immunotherapies that target PD-1 and PD-L1. “Canine bladder cancer also appears to be an excellent model of muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma seen in people,” he adds.
The goal of Pinard and his colleagues’ research was to evaluate expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 in cell lines and dogs with naturally-occurring bladder cancer as potential future therapeutic targets. They hope this study has laid the groundwork to begin to explore these types of therapies in dogs with bladder cancer; a disease known for its poor long-term prognosis in dogs.
“Presenting at the conference was an amazing opportunity and I truly enjoyed it,” Pinard says. “Giving an oral presentation to a live panel of judges was a new challenge with the online platform compared to what we are used to in person. However, it was amazing to interact with people from all over the world given the online nature of the conference. I feel very thankful and grateful to everyone in the lab, as well as on the clinic floor that contributed to my graduate project!”
The OVC community extends its congratulations to Chris for this wonderful achievement.