Canine cancer survivor may help children next

When 6-year-old silver Labrador Clarice was diagnosed with a malignant tumor near her left wrist, amputation was the standard recommendation. But for her family still grieving the loss of Dayla Culp’s sister to breast cancer the news felt especially heavy.

Instead of proceeding directly to amputation, the Culps sought care at the Washington State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, where Clarice became part of a novel multimodal treatment approach developed in collaboration with Seattle Children’s Hospital.

The protocol combined:

• Intratumoral immunotherapy

• Surgical excision

• Adjuvant radiation therapy

The immune-stimulating agent was injected directly into Clarice’s tumor to activate T-cell response prior to surgery. One week later, surgeons removed the mass, and she subsequently completed three rounds of radiation therapy.

Soft tissue sarcomas account for roughly 15% of malignant tumors in dogs, with an estimated 95,000 cases diagnosed annually in the U.S. These tumors are notorious for microscopic extension beyond visible margins, making complete surgical excision difficult — especially in anatomically tight areas like the distal limb. In Clarice’s case, the tumor’s location near the carpus made wide margins challenging, and amputation would have been complicated by preexisting arthritis in her opposite shoulder.

According to Dr. Janean Fidel, the WSU oncologist overseeing Clarice’s care, the surgical outcome was optimal, with no palpable tumor present at the time of radiation initiation. While ongoing monitoring is still required, her team is hopeful the disease has been effectively controlled.

For the Culps, participation in the clinical trial carried meaning beyond Clarice’s outcome.

“So many people in our families have had cancer,” Dayla said. “If there was a chance this could help somebody else someday, especially a child, that mattered to us.”

The research partnership between veterinary and pediatric oncology highlights the growing role of comparative oncology — using naturally occurring cancers in dogs to inform immunotherapy strategies for human patients. Data from trials like Clarice’s may help refine immune-targeted approaches for difficult-to-treat sarcomas in both species.

Today, Clarice is back home in Okanogan, Washington, greeting her family with her usual stuffed-toy parade and keeping a close watch on breakfast and snack time.

“In the end, we wanted to do everything we could for Clarice,” Jon said. “But knowing her treatment might help someone else someday made the decision feel even more meaningful.”

Full story here: https://news.wsu.edu/news/2026/02/23/canine-cancer-survivor-may-help-children-next/