UQ researchers identify cancer drug for birds
University of Queensland researchers have conducted the world's first trial of a cancer-treating drug for birds.
School of Veterinary Science and Animal Production Associate Professor Lucio Filippich said the discovery of the usefulness of the chemotherapy drug cisplatin for treating avian cancer would give veterinarians an extra weapon against the disease in birds.
"At present, chemotherapy is used to treat dog and cat cancers but for birds, surgery, amputation or even euthanasia are the only options when cancer is diagnosed," Dr Filippich said.
"Cancer is quite common among our pet birds such as cockatoos, parrots and cockatiels and is the leading cause of death for older budgerigars.
"We can now provide veterinarians with a way of treating avian cancer patients and hope to have an avian cancer clinic operating at the University's Small Animal Teaching Hospital by early next year."
Dr Filippich said the research had identified optimum dosages of the drug for treating birds and the next step was to investigate the effectiveness of a related drug known as carboplatin.
"The advantages of this drug is that it can be given to birds as a single injection over a few minutes whereas cisplatin treatment must be infused intravenously into an anaesthetised bird over several hours," he said.
Dr Filippich is at the forefront of avian medicine - an area which has only really developed over the past 15 years with a doubling of knowledge every few years.
In September 1999, he presented a paper on his cancer therapy work to the Annual Conference of the Association of Avian Veterinarians in New Orleans to an enthusiastic reception.
The research was conducted using Sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua glerita) by Dr Filippich and former postgraduate student Andrew Bucher, in collaboration with Dr Bruce Charles (School of Pharmacy) and Anthony Shorter and Mark Ridings (CSIRO, Cunningham Laboratory). It has had its moments with one cockatoo escaping from its cage over a weekend, chewing through fibre optic cables and shutting down the Clinic's expensive X-ray machines.
"He cost us four days' of confusion as to what had gone wrong and $1500 to fix the problem with his mysterious antics earning him the name ?Phantom'," Dr Filippich said.
The research was funded by a $7420 American Association of Avian Veterinarians grant and $4000 from a $24,000 private bequest from the late Elsie S Annandale.
For more information, contact Dr Lucio Filippich (telephone 07 3365 2623 or mobile 0412 818 919).
