Sarcoid breakthrough.

[Equibrit]

Scientists believe they have found a new cure for equine sarcoids


Sophie Montagne
28 February, 2010

Researchers at the University of Glasgow think they may have found a new and more practical cure for sarcoids (http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/horse-care-index/vet/tag/Sarcoids), following successful laboratory tests.


It is hoped that a new non-toxic cream, to be applied directly to the sarcoid (http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/horse-care-index/vet/tag/Sarcoids), could be available by 2015.

Sarcoids are skin tumours (http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/horse-care-index/vet/tag/Tumours_and_melanomas) caused by the bovine papillomavirus and can number from one to hundreds of lumps on any one horse.

"This research is the first of its kind in horses as nobody has managed to kill the virus successfully before," said Professor Lubna Nasir of the University of Glasgow.

The tests, which were carried out in vitro and funded by the Horse Trust, have identified a viral protein in sarcoid cells that is key to the survival of the disease.

By inhibiting this protein, researchers found that sarcoid growth reduced and the cells were eventually killed off.

Prof Nasir is now looking for funding to carry out clinical trials on horses afflicted by the skin disease, which affects 6-7% of the UK's horses.

Lorna Davis from Kent (http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/marketplace/classified/horses-for-sale.htm?category=4&county=341) has had two horses successfully treated for sarcoids.

"The injections were great, but cost £100 each," she said.
"I also tried a cream but it could only be applied by the vet (http://equestrian-business-finder.horseandhound.co.uk/directory/subcategory/equine_vets/25511) which meant regular and expensive call-out fees. A treatment you can use yourself would be much better."

[pintopiaffe]

Xxterra is quite successful already, no?

[fivehorses]

Equibrit, I haven't done a search, but wondered if you had a link.
I am about to send a mare with a horrendous sarcoid to a clinic for treatment with the aldara cream. Due to the location, she will need to be sedated for treatment.

I am hoping and have heard good things about the aldara cream, but would like to read this study.
thanks.

[appychik]

Funny thing is... Gringo had a HORRIBLE one right where the girth would go, on the underside of his barrel, kinda in the "armpit" area.

Read on CoTH :winkgrin: about using toothpaste. OMG if that didn't work! All gone. He still has some flat sarcoids, but the big one is all gone. :yes:

Nice to see they've made some progess (although pintopiaffe is right about Xxterra)... hope they get that funding.

[Bluey]

Funny thing is... Gringo had a HORRIBLE one right where the girth would go, on the underside of his barrel, kinda in the "armpit" area.

Read on CoTH :winkgrin: about using toothpaste. OMG if that didn't work! All gone. He still has some flat sarcoids, but the big one is all gone. :yes:

Nice to see they've made some progess (although pintopiaffe is right about Xxterra)... hope they get that funding.

What kind of tootpaste did you use?

[appychik]

Crest. The original stuff :D.

[Bluey]

Thank you.:cool:

I guess you just dabbed it on.

[Tif_Ann]

I haven't read the study - but used Aldara last year on squamous cell carcinoma on my pinto's eyelids. Fivehorses - will your horse have to stay at the clinic for the entire treatment? We used the Aldara 3x per week for several weeks (spendy stuff, too, $90 per week for the meds alone!)

I can tell you that the Aldara was the best and worst thing I did. Best because it DID shrink the main tumor, and the ones on his upper eyelid were completely wiped out. When he was originally diagnosed the tumor on his lower eye was large enough my vet was concerned about getting clean margins and not damaging the muscles of the eyelid and felt very strongly that surgery would result in Pi losing his eye (he's already blind in the other one - and only has 30% vision in the eye with the cancer, so this was LAST RESORT for us). All of the tumors initially went away, but the one on his bottom eyelid came back within 6 weeks - we feel strongly it was tumor that was under the skin forced to the surface.

However, the Aldara did shrink that tumor enough to make it possible to remove the tumor surgically without losing the eye. So Aldara good!!

But Aldara BAD too. It caused EXTREME swelling and pain for Pi. First treatment would be easy, second treatment would require at least two people and a twitch to apply it, and third treatment ... sedation. The longer we went with the treatment, the more I lost Pi's trust and it became more and more difficult to do the treatment. Ultimately we planned on doing another round of treatment but I just couldn't do it to him. I took him to a specialist 8 hours away for surgery instead - prepared to make the choice of surgery and blinding him OR ignoring the cancer and risking losing him early.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=127755&id=787364103&l=a6bee7e051

That said - Pi had surgery last October, and he's cancer free still. I don't know that I could ever bring myself to do Aldara again. The other horse that was undergoing Aldara treatment at the same time ended up living at the clinic because his owners couldn't put him through the pain ... but knew he needed the treatment.

[appychik]

Thank you.:cool:

I guess you just dabbed it on.

Yep. I think I applied it like twice weekly... and you just rub it in. It worked really well, surprisingly.

[LarkspurCO]

Xxterra is quite successful already, no?

For some horses, yes. It actually made my horse's sarcoids much worse.

[Swale01]

My horse had a huge (golfball size) sarcoid in his ear when I took him off the track. I actually think it contributed to the fact that he sat on the CANTER list for 2 months before I found him. :( I was advised to leave it alone out of concern that it would get aggressive if I treated it, and I tried that, but then it became irritated by bugs during the summer (even with a fly mask with ears) and I ended up asking my vet what was worthy of attempt.

We used an injection called Regressin - two shots of it, directly into the base of the sarcoid - and it shrank the thing down to the size of a pea. You can't even see it anymore unless you shave my gelding's ears and get up on a stool to look at it. :) It has been 3 years now, and it has remained shrunk.

[Liberty]

A mixture of herbs got rid of my mare's sarcoids. But, yes, I've also heard of great success with Crest toothpaste (only the original version). I think it's the fluoride that's the key.

As for Xterra, I've also heard of it being successful, but it tends to inflame the sarcoids a lot before it gets rid of them.

From what I learned when researching sarcoids; there are many different types, and they form for many different reasons. Hence, what works for one horse may not work for another.

For anyone interested, I got a lot of good info from this Yahoo list group (note: when I went to access it just now, it asked me to verify I was above the age of 18 - not sure what's up with that since it never did that in the past. But it's still the Equine Sarcoids group with current messages, including some discussing Crest and Xterra):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/equine_sarcoid/

[Due's Mom]

I used the Crest method some years ago. The sarcoid was about the size of a large marble. I clipped the area and applied it twice a day.

[Equibrit]

http://www.gla.ac.uk/research/news/headline_139813_en.html

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleListURL&_method=list&_ArticleListID=1227891508&_sort=r&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=ae6882f82899e776b3c2702651224ce9

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleListURL&_method=list&_ArticleListID=1227898918&_sort=v&_st=17&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=897e71b688a829dc8293c92ad2eb61bd

[Bluey]

Some 40 years ago, we had a four year old with a golf ball sized one under one ear.
The vet took it out surgically, injected him with cattle wart vaccine and all that was left for the rest of his life was a little bitty line under the ear.
No one would have guessed what used to be there.

[fivehorses]

I have heard how painful both the aldara and xxterra cream can be.
In my mare's situation, they want her at the clinic to remove the sarcoid that is the size of a thumb protruding from her nostril.
I have tried with help to desensitize her to the area, but no way. Someone is going to get hurt.
You can't twitch her, since its on the sarcoid. Actually, the whole side of her mouth around her nose is one giant series of sarcoids.
They want her there a week or so. Then send her home for me to do the rest.
Of course, she will have to be sedated each time.
This is a mare I rescued, and unfortunately don't really have a bond with her. Tif Ann, I could understand with one of my heart horses how difficult it would be to lose their trust, but this mare really doesn't trust humans to begin with.
Thankfully, the clinic is allowing me to get the aldara from Canada, and its so much cheaper. Like enabling me to do this.

the darn sarcoid is always bleeding and is just plain gross, never mind painful.