A five-year cohort study on testicular tumors from a population-based canine cancer registry in central Italy (Umbria).

Canine testicular tumors account for about 90 % of tumors affecting the male genitalia. Seminomas (SEM), Sertoli cell tumors (SCT), and interstitial cell tumors (ICT) are the most common histological diagnoses, but their incidence shows high variability among studies. Our aim is to report the results on the analysis of testicular tumors recorded by the population-based Umbria Canine Cancer Registry (CCR) for a 5-year time period and to assess the value of tumor major diameter, measured during trimming, in discriminating neoplastic from non-neoplastic lesions. The study was conducted on 388 testicular tumors (on 1969 total male tumors) diagnosed in 355 dogs from 2014 to 2018. The median incidence was 35 cases/100,000 dogs, with a proportion equal to 19,7 % of all tumors. The incidence on neutered male dogs was 352/100,000. Most tumors were ICTs (50 %), with fewer SEMs and SCTs (29 % and 17 %, respectively). Only 3 % of tumors were mixed germ cell-sex cord-stromal tumors (MGC-SCST). Ten percent of cases had multiple tumors in the same testicle, with SEM-ICT being prevalent (69.2 %). Tumors in cryptorchid testes were 5.9 % of the total, mostly SCT (60.9 %). Mean age at diagnosis was 10.7 ± 2.7, with similar values for different tumor types. Significant incidence ratios (IRR) were found in Golden retriever (IRR 7.18, CI95 % 4.72-10.92) and in English cocker spaniel (IRR 2.30, CI95 % 1.28-4.13) when compared with mixed breed dogs. A value of 0.3 cm (major diameter) of lesions at the moment of trimming was helpful in discriminating a final tumor histological diagnosis from a non-tumor lesion. Since the number of tumors included in this evaluation was limited, further studies to confirm the diagnostic value of this measure are recommended. Our results provided information on the incidence of canine testicular tumors in Umbria region that can be compared with future results and incidence from other geographical areas if provided with reliable data on the total population, can offer solid information on the incidence and proportion of different tumor types in specific territories, contributing also to the supervision of its inhabitants' health. Moreover, pathological data such as the major diameter of tumors can be obtained and contribute to diagnostic routine and standardization.

Decrease in pathology and progression of scrapie after immunisation with synthetic prion protein peptides in hamsters.

Effective therapy for prion diseases is currently unavailable. Recently, vaccination was shown to be effective in mouse models of a particular neurodegenerative conditions: Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we report that vaccination with synthetic oligopeptides homologous to the hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) prion protein augments survival time in animals infected intraperitoneally with 263K scrapie agent. For each hamster included in the study, prion-specific serum antibodies as well as deposition of pathological prion protein (PrP(res)), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and mRNA expression for cytokines (TNF alpha, IL-1beta, IL-10) in brain tissues were evaluated. In immunized animals, increased survival after challenge was associated with a reduction of cerebral lesion, PrP deposition and GFAP expression; in these animals, anti-prion protein peptide antibody levels were increased, and the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF alpha and IL-1beta) was reduced. Vaccination could be an effective therapeutic approach to postpone disease onset.