Hi all:

Hope you are all doing well.  We've been great, Tika and Caya are enjoying their new RV.  Tika has ruled the campground up at the lake by our house.  We learned a new trick from Tika, if she is swimming in the lake and somebody says hi to her from their boat, she will attempt to swim to them. I about had a heart attack.  Luckily, these guys immediately stopped the boat until I could get Tika to focus back on me. We were all laughing (or they were laughing at me).

Anyway, the main point of this post.  My husband started doing some research about treatments again (it was stemmed from the release of the Palladia news) and started having long conversations with the docs at University of Missouri and University of Minnesota. Long story short, Tika will be starting IL-2 inhaled therapy for lung mets very soon.  We have our first meeting with our oncologist next week and then we procede from there.  We have many wonderful people assisting us with this.  The pharmacist that compounds Tika's piroxicam has volunteered to see if he can create the perfect doggie attachment to the standard nebulizing inhaler that humans use.  All of the docs are very supportive (especially since they know we are willing to cough up the $$$)

I don't have all the details yet.  One of the advantages of IL-2 is that it can be administered at home as opposed to inhaled chemo therapy.  It is more expensive.  But it also can be used in conjunction with the metronomic protocol (so they say).  Below is the abstract from Dr. Khanna about the initial test done awhile back. We are trying to be realistic about this, but if it were to work?  Oh man, that would get us so much more time with our baby girl.  If anybody has heard anything about IL-2 therapy, I'd be happy to hear it.  I will be trying my best to keep accurate notes of our experience with it.  I practiced having Tika breath in a bag (grocery sack) last night, Tim rubbed her belly. She just rolled her eyes up at me like, "Now what are you idiots up to?"

Interleukin-2 liposome inhalation therapy is safe and effective for dogs with spontaneous pulmonary metastases.

Khanna C, Anderson PM, Hasz DE, Katsanis E, Neville M, Klausner JS. (Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55108, USA.)

BACKGROUND: Systemic in vivo toxicity of interleukin-2 (IL-2) has been problematic. Antineoplastic activity of IL-2 has been modest. The authors have previously demonstrated the biologic activity and safety of aerosols of IL-2 liposomes in normal dogs. They now report objective regression of naturally occurring pulmonary metastases in dogs after 1 month of nebulized IL-2 liposome therapy.

METHODS: Dogs with pulmonary metastases (n = 7) and primary lung carcinoma (n = 2) were treated with aerosols of IL-2 liposomes. Response to therapy was monitored with serial chest radiographs. Effector populations, collected by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and from heparinized whole blood, were assessed for cell type, immunophenotype, and tumor cytolytic activity. Immunogenicity of human IL-2 and human serum albumin (HSA) in dogs was assessed by immunofluorescence assay.

RESULTS: Two of four dogs with metastatic pulmonary osteosarcoma had complete regression of metastases; the regression remained stable for more than 12 and more than 20 months, respectively. One of two dogs with lung carcinoma had stabilization of disease for more than 8 months; the other had disease progression. Toxicity was minimal. BAL cell numbers increased more than fourfold (P = 0.01) and included significantly greater proportions and total numbers of eosinophils (P = 0.006) and lymphocytes (P = 0.008). Mean BAL effector lytic activity was significantly greater after 15 days of IL-2 liposome inhalation compared with pretreatment activity (P = 0.01); however, mean BAL lytic activity decreased after 30 days and was no longer significantly greater than pretreatment BAL lytic activity. No allergic reactions were associated with inhaled IL-2 liposome therapy. Canine antibodies against human IL-2 and HSA were detected in all dogs.

CONCLUSIONS: Pet dogs with naturally occurring pulmonary metastases and primary lung carcinomas accepted inhalation treatments easily. Nontoxic and effective treatment of pulmonary metastases of osteosarcoma is possible with nebulized IL-2 liposomes.