Dendritic Cell Therapy for dogs, cats and horses
Developed by the Veterinary hospital Dr. Grammel
Due to various factors of the changing environment and an increasing average age, cancer is also becoming more common in animals. Unfortunately, effective tumor therapies for our „fur babies“ have not been developed at the same pace. Moreover, many of the treatment methods are still relatively radical and further weaken the affected animal. Out of these problems, the Veterinary Hospital Dr. Grammel (now: Tiergesundheitszentrum Südharz) in Osterode am Harz, Lower Saxony, Germany started looking for a gentle treatment for animals with tumors almost 20 years ago – and to adapt the dendritic cell therapy from human medicine into the daily work of its team.
How it all began
The idea for the dendritic cell therapy came almost 20 years ago and was the result of a chance encounter. At this time Dr. Grammel, head of the Veterinary Hospital Dr. Grammel, met Dr. Nesselhut who works since more than three decades in the immunologic field for his human patients. His Center for cell therapy develops and uses immunotherapies in human medicine, which are focused on the treatment of tumors, regenerative and tolerance-inducing treatments. Dr. Grammel transferred this treatment approach to veterinary medicine – and thus laid the foundation for the dendritic cell therapy as a treatment option for tumors in dogs, cats and horses.
Development
In the following years, dendritic cell therapy was further developed for veterinary medicine. In 2012, a company was spun off from the veterinary clinic, culturing the dendritic cells in a clean room under GMP standards. And together with the new entity also a new and ultramodern clean room laboratory was built. Since then, dendritic cell cultures for patients have been cared for and maintained there to the highest standards of quality and hygiene.
What is important to us
Our commitment to immune therapy was born with the idea to offer a gentle tumor treatment for animals – and at the same time to reduce the pressure and pain of a more aggressive treatment method. We are happy that we continued our work over the years to help our four-legged family members. In addition to the successful implementation of immunotherapy in an animal, it is important to us to maintain close contact with both the animal owner and the veterinarian treating the animal. This is the only way we can give 100% support to all connected with the patient.
Dr. Thomas Grammel ist Tierarzt aus Osterode am Harz. Er führte die Tierklinik Dr. Grammel in zweiter Generation seit 1989. Im Jahre 2019 hat er sie an seine Schwiegertochter Marina Grammel und seinen Sohn Dr. Lukas Grammel übergeben (heute Tiergesundheitszentrum Südharz). Im Schwerpunkt betreut heute Dr. Thomas Grammel deutschlandweit Tiere mit unterschiedlichen Tumorerkrankungen. Dabei behandelt er die Tiere selber vor Ort in Osterode im TGZ Südharz, er berät deutschlandweit aber auch Kolleginnen und Kollegen sowie Patientenbesitzer zur immunologischen Behandlung mit dendritischen Zellen bei erkrankten Tieren. Wichtig ist dabei immer die partnerschaftliche Zusammenarbeit im Sinne der Vierbeiner. Dr. Grammel hat an zahlreichen Kongressen im In- und Ausland teilgenommen und seine Arbeit erfolgreich vorgestellt.