c-erbB-2 expression and nuclear pleomorphism in canine mammary tumors

Abstract

The objective of the present investigation was to study the expression of c-erbB-2 and MIB-1 and try to associate them with morphological features of the cell such as nuclear pleomorphism, mitotic count and histological grade in a series of 70 canine mammary gland tumors, 22 of them benign and 48 malignant. Tumors were collected at the Veterinary Hospital of UFMG (Brazil) and the Veterinary Faculty of Porto University (Portugal). c-erbB-2 expression was determined according to the guidelines provided by the manufacturer of the HercepTest system and nuclear pleomorphism, mitotic count and histological grade according the Elston and Ellis grading system. The HercepTest is the FDA-approved in vitro diagnostic test marketed by Dako. It is a semi-quantitative immunohistochemical assay used to determine overexpression of HER2 protein (human epidermal growth factor receptor) in breast cancer tissue. MIB-1 expression was also evaluated in 28 malignant tumors. Seventeen (35.4%) of the malignant tumors were positive for c-erbB-2 expression, which was positively associated with nuclear pleomorphism (P < 0.0001), histological grade (P = 0.0017) and mitotic count (P < 0.05). Nuclear pleomorphism also showed a positive association with MIB-1 index (P < 0.0001). These results suggest that some of the biological and morphological characteristics of the tumor are associated in canine mammary gland tumors, as also reported for human breast cancer. It was also possible to show that the immunoexpression of c-erbB-2 can be a factor in mammary carcinogenesis. This fact opens the possibility of using anti-c-erbB-2 antibodies in the treatment of canine mammary tumors.

Canine Mammary Tumors: Risk Factors, Prognosis and Treatments

“…Mutation and overexpression of HER-2 has been detected in both benign and malignant CMT (Rungsipipat et al, 1998;Matsuyama et al, 2001). In addition, HER-2 overexpression in MMT has been positively associated with nuclear pleomorphism, high histological grade and mitotic count (Dutra et al, 2004). A recent study indicates that HER-2 contributes to increase the angiogenesis in mammary carcinomas (Carvalho et al, 2013).…”

“…In the bitch, the population of PR in MMT is more abundant in those with clinical and histological parameters associated with favorable prognosis (Martin de las Mulas et al, 2005), and dogs with MMT expressing PR had significantly higher survival rates than those lacking PR (Chang et al, 2009). Recently, some authors observed that HER-2 over-expression in MMT was positively associated with indicators of poor prognosis in the bitch (Martin de las Mulas et al, 2003;Dutra et al, 2004). However, Ressel et al, (2013) found that bitches with HER-2 over-expressing carcinomas did not present a poorer prognosis than those with HER-2-non-over-expressing tumors.…”

Immunohistochemical expression of HER-2/NEU-CERBB-2 in patients with adenocarcinoma of the stomach

“…Figure 1 shows the positive sample control for CerbB-2 and figure 2 shows a positive case for CerbB-2. Table 1 Table 1 Table 1 Table 1 Table 1 Adapted from Dutra AP, et al C-erbB-2 expression and nuclear pleomorphism in canine mammary tumours 9 . Table 2 Table 2 Table 2 Table 2 Table 2 In most countries the disease is usually diagnosed when has already invaded the muscularis propria, stage in which 5-year survival rates are less than 20%.…”

Comments on the paper "c-erbB-2 expression and nuclear pleomorphism in canine mammary tumors"

“…In their interesting study on canine mammary tumors published in the Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research, Dutra et al (1) evaluated the influence of cerbB-2 expression and nuclear polymorphism on survival using a semiquantitative scoring system. Survival was calculated using the Spearman rank correlation test.…”

“…Most survival analyses use Kaplan-Meier plots, log rank tests or the Cox proportional hazard regression (2). A Spearman rank order correlation test, as carried out by Dutra et al (1), can only be used if all the animals under observation die (2).…”