Histopathological and immunohistochemical analysis of predictive and prognostic markers in spontaneous canine mammary cancer

Tancoš, Vladimír; Kovalik, Marcel; Levkut, Martin; Bobrovská, Martina; Kolenčíková, Petra; Straka, Ľubomír; Ševčíková, Zuzana; Škor, Ondřej; Antošová, Martina; Plank, Lukáš; Thoday, Keith L.

doi:10.2754/avb202392020143

Acta Veterinaria > Archive > 2023, Vol. 92 > Issue 2 > Histopathological and…

Acta Vet. Brno 2023, 92: 143-149

https://doi.org/10.2754/avb202392020143

Histopathological and immunohistochemical analysis of predictive and prognostic markers in spontaneous canine mammary cancer

Vladimír Tancoš¹, Marcel Kovalik², Martin Levkut³, Martina Bobrovská⁴, Petra Kolenčíková⁴, Ľubomír Straka⁵, Zuzana Ševčíková³, Ondřej Škor⁶, Martina Antošová⁷, Lukáš Plank⁴, Keith L. Thoday⁸

¹Pavol Jozef Safarik University and Louis Pasteur University Hospital, Institute of Pathology, Košice, Slovak Republic
²Anima Group, s.r.o., Veterinary Hospital Anima Vets, Žilina, Slovak Republic
³University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Department of Morphological Disciplines, Košice, Slovak Republic
⁴Comenius University Bratislava, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pathological Anatomy, Martin, Slovak Republic
⁵Unilabs Slovensko, s.r.o., Department of Pathological Anatomy, Prešov, Slovak Republic
⁶Laboklin GMBH & CO.KG, Labor für Klinische Diagnostik, Bad Kissingen, Germany
⁷University Hospital Martin, Department of Development and Strategic Investments, Martin, Slovak Republic
⁸The University of Edinburgh, The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Easter Bush Veterinary Centre, Roslin, Midlothian, Scotland

Received January 23, 2023
Accepted May 4, 2023

The study investigates the interspecies similarities between canine and human mammary cancer in the sense of innovative predictive and prognostic tumour markers. Surgical resection specimens with diagnosed spontaneous primary mammary cancer obtained from 100 female canine patients were included in this study. Expression of carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) enzyme and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) expression was evaluated immunohistochemically. The study was completed with investigation of Ki67 expression and proliferation with marker of myogenous differentiation. Histopathological grading was performed using the Nottingham/modified Bloom-Richardson system. As in humans, our analysis of canine mammary cancer has shown that CAIX positivity in tumour cells significantly correlates with higher levels of HER2 immunoreactivity (P = 0.001), and increased tumour grade (P < 0.001). The percentage of smooth muscle actin (SMA) positive cases was significantly higher (P = 0.002) in the group of mammary carcinomas with CAIX positivity compared to the tumours that were negative. Using antibody Ki67 proliferative activity was not significantly different between mammary tumours that were CAIX positive and CAIX negative. Canine mammary gland carcinomas may, therefore, represent valuable animal models for the study of hypoxic signaling pathways involved in mammary carcinogenesis in humans. Further research investigating this possibility is required.

Keywords

Dog, carbonic anhydrase IX enzyme, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, marker of myogenous differentiation, cell proliferation - Ki67.

Funding

This study was conducted thanks to the support of the project: Integrative strategy in development of personalized medicine of selected malignant tumors and its impact on quality of life, IMTS: 313011V446 under the Operational Programme Integrated Infrastructure, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.