Clinical significance and prognostic role of tumor-associated macrophages infiltration according to histologic location in canine mammary carcinomas.

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) have been involved in growth and metastases of human and canine mammary tumors. However, the prognostic importance of TAM specific location in canine mammary tumors (CMT) was not evaluated. In this study, we evaluated the potential role of TAMs in specific histologic locations - intratumoral (iTAM) and stromal (sTAM), as well as total macrophage (tTAM) counts - as prognostic indicators in CMT. Clinicopathologic data from 66 animals with mammary carcinoma and their tumors were used in this study. Samples were stained with anti-macrophage antibody for subsequent TAM count. High levels of iTAM, sTAM, and tTAM were related with advanced clinical stage and vascular invasion. Additionally, tTAM revealed a relation with larger tumor size, while high levels of sTAM and tTAM were also correlated with node metastasis and a poor prognosis based on survival analysis. CMT with aggressive features can reveal higher TAM counts. TAMs are associated with vascular invasion and nodal metastasis, and sTAM and tTAM counts are correlated with overall survival, suggesting they could be used as prognostic indicators in canine mammary carcinomas.

Adjuvant Thalidomide and Metronomic Chemotherapy for the Treatment of Canine Malignant Mammary Gland Neoplasms.

BACKGROUND/AIM: The aim of the present study was to evaluate a multimodal approach for the treatment of canine malignant mammary gland neoplasms, including surgery, chemotherapy, thalidomide, and metronomic chemotherapy (MC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-eight female dogs were submitted to four different treatments: surgery; surgery with chemotherapy; surgery with chemotherapy and thalidomide; and surgery with chemotherapy and metronomic chemotherapy and overall survival was evaluated. RESULTS: No statistical difference was found in the proliferative index and microvessel density of primary neoplasms and distant metastases following thalidomide treatment. Diffuse intense inflammatory infiltrate was predominant in primary tumors and diffuse moderate inflammatory infiltrate in metastatic lesions. No statistically significant difference was observed in median survival time (MST) between treatment groups when including all clinical stages (p=0.3177). However, animals diagnosed with distant metastasis treated with surgery and chemotherapy associated with thalidomide or MC presented longer MST when compared to animals treated only with surgery or surgery and chemotherapy (p<0.0001). CONCLUSION: The proposed multimodal therapy protocols including antiangiogenic and immunomodulatory therapies demonstrated a clinical benefit for patients in advanced clinical stages.

Relationship between the inflammatory tumor microenvironment and different histologic types of canine mammary tumors.

Mammary neoplasms are the tumors with higher incidence in female dogs. Among the factors that contribute for the development of this and other neoplasms, the inflammatory tumor microenvironment plays a crucial role. Several studies reported important roles for lymphocytes, macrophages, plasma cells, neutrophils, eosinophils and mast cells in this context. In the present study, our aim was to evaluate the number of profile cells of inflammatory cells and area of tumor fibrosis and the relation of these features with canine mammary tumors of different histologic and clinical presentation (benign mixed tumor, carcinoma in mixed tumor, solid carcinoma and tubular carcinoma) Counting and staining of inflammatory cells and tumor fibrosis were performed through histochemistry, while counting and staining of CD4+, TCD8+ and FOXP3+ lymphocytes were performed through immunohistochemistry. Statistical analysis of the association between densities of inflammatory cells, tumor fibrosis and histologic types revealed significant difference for plasma cells (p = .035), neutrophils (p = .0113), macrophages (p = .0047), and tumor fibrosis (p = .05). The found data suggest associations between high number of neutrophils and aggressive mammary tumors, between high densities of plasma cells, macrophages and CD8+ cells and between low number of profile cells of CD4+ cells and less aggressive tumors. Larger areas of tumor fibrosis showed relation to more aggressive canine mammary tumors.

Cytologic analysis of the mammary papillar discharge in a canine micropapillary carcinoma.

This is a report on the cytologic analysis of the mammary papillar discharge in a 7-year-old female Doberman dog with an invasive micropapillary carcinoma. Cytologic evaluation of nipple discharge is a well-known method for the rapid diagnosis of breast cancer in women. However, there is no previous report regarding the use of this technique for assessing mammary tumors in dogs. The aim of this study was to describe the use of mammary papillar discharge cytology for diagnosing a micropapillary carcinoma in a dog. Cytologically, evaluation of the papillar discharge revealed cells arranged in clusters in a papillary pattern or in a morula-like arrangement, suggesting the diagnosis of a micropapillary carcinoma, which was subsequently confirmed by histopathology. Thus, mammary papillar discharge cytology should be considered as an ancillary method for evaluating mammary diseases in dogs.

Análise prognóstica da imunoexpressão de osteopontina no microambiente dos carcinomas mamários esporádicos de cadelas / Analysis predicts the osteopontin immunostaining in the microenvironment of sporadic canine mammary carcinomas

A osteopontina (OPN) é uma glicofosfoproteína secretável que tem sido relacionada com diferentes processos fisiológicos e de doença nos seres humanos. Sabe-se que a OPN está relacionada com a progressão neoplásica e metástase em diversos cânceres humanos, porém esta relação ainda é pouco explorada na literatura veterinária. O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar a expressão de osteopontina nos carcinomas mamários caninos e sua relação com biomarcadores tumorais bem estabelecidos nessas neoplasias. Para isso, a expressão de OPN, EGFR, HER2 e c-Kit foi avaliada em conjunto com a análise da taxa de Ki67 em 43 carcinomas mamários provenientes de cadelas diferentes. Demonstrou-se que a expressão acentuada de OPN está relacionada com a expressão de EGFR (P < 0.001) e com a superexpressão de HER2 (P = 0.012). Em conclusão, a osteopontina aparenta estar relacionada com prognóstico ruim e ativação da via MAPK, este ultimo fato podendo implicar na futura utilização de tratamentos baseados em drogas direcionadas para esta via de sinalização particular nas neoplasias mamárias de cadelas com expressão acentuada de osteopontina...

Osteopontin (OPN) is a secreted glycophosphoprotein that has been implicated in a number of different normal physiologic and pathologic processes in humans. OPN is known to be involved in the progression and metastasis of various humans cancers, but this relation is still little explored in the veterinary literature. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of osteopontin in canine mammary carcinomas and its relation with well established canine mammary tumor biomarkers. For that, the expression of OPN, EGFR, HER2, and c-Kit were evaluated along with Ki67 rate in 43 mammary carcinomas from different female dogs. OPN was demonstrated to be expressed by neoplastic epithelial cells in all carcinomas as well as in stromal cells from the tumor microenvironment. Relation between OPN high expression and EGFR positivity (P < 0.001) and high HER2 expression (P = 0.012) was demonstrated. In conclusion, osteopontin seems to be related to poor prognosis and MAPK pathway activation, the latter a feature that could imply in the future use of treatments with drugs directed against this particular signaling pathway in highly OPN expressing canine mammary tumors...