Will estrogens help fight canine lymphoma?

• The decision to become a veterinarian was made by Katarzyna Bugiel-Stabla in elementary school, and at the age of 13 she knew that she wanted to research cancer in the future.
• In her PhD she focuses on determining the effect of estrogens on lymphoma cells and finding the correlation between the expression of estrogen receptors and the development and course of the disease.
• For the purpose of her PhD, Katarzyna is working together with the Vetlab clinic and prof. Stefano Comazzi from the University of Milan on a programme called .
• After completing her PhD, she plans to focus primarily on clinical work, because she finds helping animals and their owners most rewarding.

A childhood dream that turned into a PhD

Katarzyna decided she wanted to become a vet in primary school - like many children. What makes her stand out however, is the fact that at the age of 13 she knew that in the future she wanted to work in oncology. The reason was the illness of her German Shepherd. Curing lymphoma became her childhood dream, and made her choose the career path she is on today. – Scientists know that finding a cure for cancer is very complex and the discovery of one universal drug is impossible. Still, any new aspect that improves the prognosis is important. That is why I don’t necessarily dream of finding a drug for lymphoma anymore, but I want to contribute to the research in this field – says the UPWr Doctoral School student about the origins of her interest in oncology.

After completing her veterinary studies, Katarzyna went on an oncology internship to Bologna. There, she noticed that in Italy, as in other Mediterranean countries, animals are rarely sterilized. According to the beliefs of local vets, the surgery removing the gonads may increase the risk of developing lymphoma in time. Epidemiological data also seemed to confirm these beliefs, because castrated males most often suffer from lymphoma, and non-sterilized females the least frequently. Katarzyna became intrigued by this information and decided to focus her future research in the direction of trying to find an answer to the question why this is so. – Perhaps the key factor here is the expression level of estrogen receptors? – Thought Katarzyna back then.

Estrogens – a new weapon in the fight against lymphoma?

Katarzyna's PhD was shaped by her supervisor, Prof. Aleksandra Pawlak, who suggested that she should focus on determining the effect of estrogens on lymphoma cells and finding a correlation between the expression of estrogen receptors and the development and course of the disease.

In human medicine, estrogen receptors have been studied for years for their expression and influence on the course of hematopoietic neoplasms, while there are no similar studies in dogs so far.

The PhD student has already managed to prove that estrogen receptors are clearly expressed on canine cancer cells. Although she hasn’t collected all the data yet, she has noticed the tendency that the stronger the expression of these receptors, the more mild the disease will be and the tumor will have a more favorable phenotype.

– I hope that the result of my research will help determine the expression of these receptors as a prognostic factor, so that it can be introduced as a permanent element of lymphoma diagnostics. But that’s not all. During the research, I also noticed that estrogen receptor agonists have a pro-apoptotic effect, meaning that they cause the death of cancer cells – explains Katarzyna Bugiel-Stabla, highlighting that she hopes that the receptor agonists, the substances that bind the receptor, causing a reaction in the cell, will be used in standard chemotherapy and possibly improve the effectiveness of treatment in the future.

Collaboration is the key to success

As part of her PhD, Katarzyna took part in creating Oncoflow, a programme based on the collaboration with Vetlab – a veterinary diagnostic lab. This collaboration gives Katarzyna the opportunity to test more patients and collect more data. In return, dog owners can count on receiving information about the cancer phenotype that their pet has developed.

The University of Milan has also joined the programme, since the project focuses on flow cytometry and phenotyping lymphomas, and a well-known expert in this field – Prof. Stefano Comazzi works there. When he found out about Katarzyna's research, he immediately wanted to take part in it, so now the analysis of estrogen receptor expressions is carried out in parallel in both countries and will be concluded in an international publication.

Additionally, Katarzyna is researching new estrogen derivatives as part of the Bon Doktoranta grant from the UPWr Doctoral School. – So far, together with Prof. Pawlak, we have focused on studying estradiol and the effect of alpha estrogen agonists on cells. Now, thanks to additional funds and a chance to work with researchers from the UPWr Department of Food Chemistry and Biocatalysis of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences of, we have extended the analysis to seventeen new estrogen derivatives to select the best ones and test them as chemotherapy additives or supplements for sterilized female dogs – explains Katarzyna.

What matters is helping others

During her studies and her first year of her PhD, Katarzyna travelled to Thailand twice to volunteer and treat animals of the local community. – I really recommend this experience to every student. It completely changes your perspective, not only on work, but on what is important in life. I also gained completely new medical skills there. We had practically no equipment in the jungle, so we had to rely on our own experience and trust our instincts – recalls the PhD student with a smile.

After Katarzyna completes her PhD, she plans to focus primarily on working in a clinic, because helping animals and their owners is what’s most important to her. However, she does mention that she would love to obtain an international specialization in oncology and, if she has the time, she would be happy to combine work in the clinic with scientific work: – I hope that if I manage to find time to conduct research outside of working with patients, my work with prof. Pawlak will continue. The topic of our joint research is so extensive that it will certainly continue long after my PhD – says Katarzyna.

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