Award for CanCan Diagnostics
We’re proud to share that Cancan Diagnostics Ltd was recognised in the Animal Health, Agritech and Aquaculture category at Scotland’s Life Sciences Awards, an exciting milestone that reflects the growing importance of innovation in veterinary oncology and precision diagnostics. We wouldn’t be here without your support! Thank you for your trust!
We are coming to ESVONC conference in Dublin!
If you’ll be attending the ESVONC Conference 2026 in Dublin from 21–23 May 2026, we’d love for you to stop by our booth. Whether you’d like to discuss a case, share feedback or simply say hello, we’d be delighted to meet you!
We are also excited to sponsor a talk on Friday (22/05) morning at 8.15AM, where dr Olivier Keravel from Eiffelvet (Paris, France) will share his experience from monitoring cancer patients using K9-LiquiDX during his lecture: “Use of liquid biopsy for monitoring of cancer patients in clinical practice”. Dr Keravel has extensive experience with use of liquid biopsy and tumour sequencing as an add-on to the gold standard of care with hundreds of cases having this type of combination
Case of the month- atypical cancer signal leads to new diagnosis
Twelve year old female Schnauzer. Was diagnosed with mast cell tumour (grade 2 Patnaik, low grade Kiupel), with metastasis to loco regional lymph node. The tumour was surgically removed and subsequently the dog was treated with 8 doses of vinblastine, followed by a year of metronomic chemotherapy with chlorambucil. Seven months later, during a follow up appointment, a thickening of the popliteal area was identified. The lesion was resected together with loco regional lymph nodes, and mast cell tumour was diagnosed with early lymph node metastasis. Blood sample was submitted for liquid biopsy using our K9-LiquiDX platform. The results revealed two TP53 mutations (G156S and 314 splice site mutation), both at relatively high variant allele frequency of 10%. The result was quite atypical for MCT and in setting of monitoring of minimal residual disease. TP53 mutations are relatively rare in MCT (Vozdova et al 2020) and we would likely see mutations at a very low VAF level in cases where the tumour is completely resected. This is particularly the case for MCTs where the tumour cells don’t release much cfDNA into the circulation. The case returned to the clinic for a CT scan and investigation revealed a retroperitoneal mass (2.27×1.85 cm), which was not identified on the preoperative imaging.
FNAs were unsuccessful and only bloody fluid was recovered. Surgical resection was performed and histopathologically the mass was confirmed to be a hemangiosarcoma. Due to mutation in TP53, the dog was started on doxorubicin and subsequently rapamycin was added, based on a recent study indicating this type of treatment for TP53 mutated hemangiosarcoma (Rodriguez et al 2025). There was no signs of relapse or metastasis of either cancer 9 months later, but unfortunately the patient later died in a motor accident.
Thank you to Anna Jaguszewska and Mariusz Miazga from Poblocki and Miazga Veterinary Clinic in Gdansk for the interesting case.