title: Companion animals: Translational scientist's new best friends.
abstract: Knowledge and resources derived from veterinary medicine represent an underused resource that could serve as a bridge between data obtained from diseases models in laboratory animals and human clinical trials. Naturally occurring disease in companion animals that display the defining attributes of similar, if not identical, diseases in humans hold promise for providing predictive proof of concept in the evaluation of new therapeutics and devices. Here we outline comparative aspects of naturally occurring diseases in companion animals and discuss their current uses in translational medicine, benefits, and shortcomings. Last, we envision how these natural models of disease might ultimately decrease the failure rate in human clinical trials and accelerate the delivery of effective treatments to the human clinical market.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kol
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Boaz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Arzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, U.S.A. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Kyriacos A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Athanasiou
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Diana L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Farmer
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Human Anatomy, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Jan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Nolta
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Rebhun
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Xinbin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Leigh G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Griffiths
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Frank J M
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Verstraete
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA. dlborjesson@ucdavis.edu.
authors.forename: Dori L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Borjesson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical