This is a great tip. I’m going to order these the next time I’m tack shopping! Thanks!
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Hi oldernewbie and others,
I have followed Oncept and this thread for years. My gelding is now 18, has had melanomas since he was 8, and they currently have proliferated in so many places - lips, neck(1) , sheath (at least 10, up to golf ball size) , anus (~ 50, one large one deep), and entire tail dock, that I now need to basically try to save his life from internal obstruction. So I am going to try the personalized auto-immune injections where his own melanoma cells grow in a medium and are re-injected transdermally.
The company with this procedure is: https://ifx-vet.com/horses/.
The internist at Littleton Equine Clinic in Colorado has done one, seen and had colleague reports of significant success, or not. They think the odds for my horse’s situation are better than Oncept. Cost for the removal and culture is $3500. up front, and weekly injections will add another ~$500 total until the amount they can produce from his cells runs out. I am not sure how long those may last. I am going for it as this horse is family and the last of my 4 generations of breeding. I will start a new thread and keep everyone informed as to whether this works or not, over the next months. Wish me and my gelding luck…
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Sorry it has taken me so long to respond - I’ve had the stomach crud going around here 
Good luck with the ifx - I have read success stories and hope it works for your gelding. $#@*& melanoma!!!
Keep us posted!
Thanks Plumcreek. I am at the point where I, also, need to make a decision on how to treat my mare. Reporting your experience will be helpful. I’m sorry it will be so expensive, but I truly hope this is a solution for your horse.
Please keep us posted
@Plumcreek is Littleton going to do the removal for the culture? My friend is at a similar place with her gelding, and she was going to do a trial at CSU, but their procedure would have involved injections directly into the visible melanoma, and most of his are on his penis, so she didn’t want to do that to him. A transdermal procedure may appeal to her.
Littleton will remove as many melanomas in as many different locations as prudent. I guess they also do not know if different locations have different cells, so I suggested they remove some from all locations. The amount of melanoma material removed to use seems to not correlate with how many cells they can grow. The rest of his problematic melanomas; lips , big ones on sheath, the big side of anus deep one, and big ones on tail dock will be removed by my main vet later. She has an experimental (for a decade - long story) concoction called Dermex she injects after getting all the melanoma material she can out. If it is deep enough into the back of the melanoma, it will help kill it. Worked on sarcoids, and on isolated squamous carcinoma tumors…
Skylar goes in to Littleton tomorrow, Tues, for removal, then a month-ish to grow cells, then injections, then months to await results.
Edit - Could take up to two months to grow cells, as melanoma cells grow slowly. Surgeon took the faster growing lump off the side of his neck, and a slower growing melanoma off his sheath. Not in the signed release, but Internist vet said if the VOS company cannot grow any cells to inject, they will refund most of their fee. Still paying local vet clinic and surgeon, out of the $3500. up front. .
I guess I will stick with this thread for posting info.
@IPEsq I asked if my vet could remove the melanomas. Not hardly. Seems taking them in a baggie over to Littleton for culturing will not work. LOL .
I started a new thread named Auto-immune Melanoma Vaccine. Should be easier to keep track of.
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Thank you both, OP and Plumcreek, for these threads. I’ve not had melanomas on my horses, but I’ve had 2 friends IRL whose horses had them.
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It was back to Ohio State today for Mr Ay-rab’s 6 month injection and exam. Definitely one of those times that no news is good news! His devoted team went over him from nose to tail. No changes, nothing new, all good!
He goes to his favorite opthalmologist in May - life overcame me last year and he did not see her in 2017. It will be very interesting to see what she has to say. The vets at OSU gave his eye a quick look today and didn’t see anything remarkable. I do notice that the patch of edema on his eye is much fainter, especially when compared to 2014.
This was my second appointment on a Friday the 13th. Today’s bad luck was that my trailer lights weren’t working, but our local trailer fix it place dropped everything and got us on the road. And, for some reason, people cut me off in Columbus about 10 times - just hate that when I’m hauling horses. Good but crazy day!
That’s such great news! It’s really good to know the vaccine also deters new ones forming! That is truely amazing the eye melanoma has reduced so significantly too. I read somewhere there has been a follow up study for horses that have been on Oncept long term? but cant seem to find a research paper covering this. It would be really good to know how others are also going long term with Oncept. Do you know anything about the follow up study? Fantastic news on your horse though 
Another update - Mr Ay-rab saw his favorite equine ophthalmologist at Rood & Riddle last Thursday. In past years I had tried to get him down there every six months, but 2017 was a bad one so he hasn’t seen her since October 2016. Very happy to report that everything in his eye is stable if not reduced some since his last exam. Everyone was all smiles, loaded him up and took him to a horse show, where he did pretty darn well.
:):):)
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Great news oldernewbie. Thanks for the updates!
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That’s such great news ! Thanks for sharing your journey.
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Thank you for the info.
I did a search for your new thread and couldnt find it. Can you post an update?
Sorry to have disappeared. Been really busy. .
Very unhappy to report that the Auto-Immune Melanoma injections did nothing at all to reduce my gelding’s melanomas. Basically I funded the company’s research. The injections did not accelerate growth either, luckily. I have scheduled surgery in a couple weeks to take the large melanomas off the top third of his tail, larger ones off sheath, and the large deep one at the side of his anus. Maybe two nickel sized ones off his lips on one side. It will be a lay down surgery, which I hate. The vet wants me to dock his tail, which is completely loaded with quarter sized melanomas, but I am not ready for that - want to see how much removing the larger top ones, which do bother him and will bleed if rubbed, help him to be comfortable. He has always had a huge tail bone, and I think the melanoma weight is not the issue she thinks it is - will see. .
My gelding is 19 and I popped for the expensive injections ($4K) , because I was worried about internal melanomas. A well-known QH stud, Huntin for Chocolate, just died at 21 or 22 years due to internal melanomas that invaded his lungs and kidneys. Report said he died in his sleep…
I am looking for a young prospect, and so many nice ones are grays, but never again.
Due to inertia and stress, I have been putting off trying topical CBD oil from Hemp or Marijuana - which is not a problem here in pot-friendly Colorado. There is a YouTube video touting this as successful in one horse. My checking turned up one specific variety/compound of Cannabinoid Oil, CBC Oil, that is supposed to be effective against tumors. I Imagine straight CBD oil includes this CBC compound. Typing this is motivating me - nothing to lose. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyav1lmlKMY
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Well, our gelding is scheduled for the first vaccine next week, will see how he fares.
