examination of chimpanzee use in human cancer research

Advocates of chimpanzee research claim the genetic similarity of humans and chimpanzees make them an indispensable research tool to combat human diseases. Given that cancer is a leading cause of human death worldwide, one might expect that if chimpanzees were needed for, or were productive in, cance...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Alternatives to laboratory animals 2009-09, Vol.37 (4), p.399-416
Main Author: Bailey, Jarrod
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
animal disease models
Animal Welfare
Animals
Animals, Laboratory
Antineoplastic Agents
Antineoplastic Agents - classification
Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use
Ape Diseases
Biological and medical sciences
Biomedical Research
Biomedical Research - ethics
Biomedical Research - statistics & numerical data
classification
Drug Evaluation, Preclinical
Drug Evaluation, Preclinical - methods
drug therapy
ethics
etiology
General aspects. Methods
human diseases
Humans
Medical sciences
methods
neoplasms
Neoplasms - drug therapy
Neoplasms - etiology
Neoplasms - veterinary
Pan troglodytes
Species Specificity
statistics & numerical data
therapeutic use
Toxicology
veterinary
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Advocates of chimpanzee research claim the genetic similarity of humans and chimpanzees make them an indispensable research tool to combat human diseases. Given that cancer is a leading cause of human death worldwide, one might expect that if chimpanzees were needed for, or were productive in, cancer research, then they would have been widely used. This comprehensive literature analysis reveals that chimpanzees have scarcely been used in any form of cancer research, and that chimpanzee tumours are extremely rare and biologically different from human cancers. Often, chimpanzee citations described peripheral use of chimpanzee cells and genetic material in predominantly human genomic studies. Papers describing potential new cancer therapies noted significant concerns regarding the chimpanzee model. Other studies described interventions that have not been pursued clinically. Finally, available evidence indicates that chimpanzees are not essential in the development of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. It would therefore be unscientific to claim that chimpanzees are vital to cancer research. On the contrary, it is reasonable to conclude that cancer research would not suffer, if the use of chimpanzees for this purpose were prohibited in the US. Genetic differences between humans and chimpanzees, make them an unsuitable model for cancer, as well as other human diseases.
ISSN:0261-1929
2632-3559
DOI:10.1177/026119290903700410