Dogs Could Be Early Warning System for Human Health

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Not only are dogs our best friends, but they may also be our best early disease warning system. In a new study, researchers from North Carolina State University and Duke University demonstrated that dogs can be a sentinel species for human health, especially when monitoring environmental exposures.

“There are over 360 diseases that are shared between dogs and humans,” Catherine Wise, Ph.D. candidate at NC State, told Laboratory Equipment. “Many chronic diseases that result from environmental exposure to chemicals can take decades for clinical manifestations to occur in humans. These same diseases in dogs have a latency period of only 1 to 2 years because—dogs.”

In the study, published in Environmental Science & Technology, Wise and her team recruited 30 dogs and their owners to wear silicone monitors for a five-day period in July 2018. Humans wore wristbands, while the dogs wore tags on their collars.

The researchers analyzed the wristbands and tags for exposures to chemicals within three classes of environmental toxins that are often found in human blood and urine: pesticides, flame retardants and phthalates, which are found in plastic food packaging and personal care products. The researchers found high correlations between exposure levels for owners and their pets. Urinalysis also revealed the presence of organophosphate esters (found in some flame retardants) in both owners and dogs.

Beyond proving dogs are a powerful biological sentinel species for human disease, the study results support the value of using silicone monitoring devices in environmental research.  

“What makes the silicone monitoring devices such a powerful tool for investigating exposures is that they are non-invasive, inexpensive and temperature-stable for transporting, and convenient to wear,” said Wise, lead author of the study. “The uptake of these chemicals through the membranes of human and animal cells is similar to the ability that silicone has to potentially absorb these chemicals.”

Currently, silicone monitoring devices are being used in studies examining flame-retardant exposure and the risk of hyperthyroidism in pet cats, children’s and occupational exposure studies, as well as the study of farm workers across the United States, South America and Africa. One downside to the silicone monitoring devices, according to Wise, is that they do not capture dietary exposure well.

Wise and her colleagues intend to continue with their research, first by validating the data they generated for urinary biomarkers for additional chemical classes. They are also going to expand the study to investigate possible associations between exposures and specific dog cancers.

“Humans spend incredible amounts of time with their dogs—that's especially true right now,” said Matthew Breen, professor of comparative oncology genetics at NC State and corresponding author of the paper. “If we develop ways to correlate dog disease with their exposures over time, it may give human-health professionals the opportunity to mitigate these exposures for both species. This study reinforces the concept of One Health, demonstrating that in addition to being our closest animal companions, our dogs truly are a sentinel species for health.”

Photo credit: NC State