Canine neoplasia – Introductory paper

Abstract

The paper gives a brief introduction to canine oncology, including its comparative aspects as basis for recording tumours in the animal kingdom. In an abbreviated presentation of the Norwegian Canine Cancer Project for the years 1990 – 1998, the data (n=14,401) were divided into age groups, each of two years, into different categories of tumours, and into age and gender. As expected, cutaneous histiocytoma was the dominant tumour type in both sexes during the two first years of life. In the age group 2 – 3.99 years histiocytoma was still the largest group in males, but was surpassed by benign epithelial skin tumours in females. After the age of 4 years, benign epithelial skin tumours constituted the greatest circumscribed group in males, and mammary tumours in females, although the summated other tumours, not explained in this survey, dominated overall in males. Maligancies (cancer) were shown in the same way, by corresponding groups of gender and age. While mastocytoma was the most common tumour and non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma the second most common during the two first years of life in females, the situation was reversed in males. Later, mammary tumours dominated in females, while different tumour types not further specified in this summarized report dominated in males, until the end of the age registration (above 14 years). Number, sex and location of most common tumours are shown in a tabular outline. Comparative aspects between human and dog tumours are considered: mammary and testicular neoplasia seemed more frequent in dogs than in humans in Norway, while intestinal, pulmonary and prostatic malignancies were less common in dogs. In our study, vascular tumours and tumour‐like lesions constituted about 3% of the total data. As benign vascular tumours are incompletely reported to the human Cancer Registry, no dependable comparison may be made, but malignant vascular tumours have been on the rise during the last decades in the Norwegian human population, more so in men then in women. Finally, the article deals briefly with the development of endothelial cells, and the sparse information on causal factors of vascular tumours.

A longitudinal study of ABC transporter expression in canine multicentric lymphoma

“…This is consistent with other studies that evaluate the general dog-population, such as the one in Denmark [19] and Norway [18,35]. However the EIR calculated for MCT in both of the data-sets is much higher in relation to the EIR of MCT in dogs irrespective of breed than would be expected on the basis of previous reports [34].…”

“…Future research should examine this in more detail, since it influences the level of veterinary care and will also influence epidemiological studies. The percentage of malignant tumours as well as its EIR in the tumours diagnosed using histopathology in the current study were higher than what has been reported in other studies that considered the general dog-population; namely in Norway (2008) [18] Italy (2009) [30,31] and Alameda (1968) [32,33]. This is suggestive of a general breed-predisposition for malignant tumours in the Golden retriever.…”

“…Clear evidence exists for a breed-related predisposition to specific cancers, like histiocytic sarcomas in Bernese Mountain dogs [10,13] and Flatcoated retrievers, [11] anal sac carcinomas in the English Cocker Spaniel [12,14] and hemangiosarcomas in German Shepherd dogs [15]. For the Golden retriever, an increased risk for the development of cancer in general has been reported by some [16,17], but not all studies [18,19]. Also, there are reports on an increased risk for specific types of cancer in Golden retrievers such as mast cell tumours (MCT) [12,20] melanomas [21] and non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) [12,22,23] and suggestions of a predisposition to soft tissue sarcomas (STS) [24][25][26][27].…”

Estrogen and progesterone receptors immunolabeling in mammary solid carcinoma in an African Hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris) with concurrent uterine fibrosarcoma

“…There has been a growing concern in recent decades about the understanding and characterization of spontaneous neoplasms in domestic and wild animals, with an increase in research in comparative oncology, mainly due to the need of development of biological systems for environmental monitoring (4). In African hedgehogs, spontaneous tumors have been frequently reported, and a retrospective necropsy study reported 30% of prevalence of spontaneous neoplasms in this species (13).…”

The application of circulating tumor cells detecting methods in veterinary oncology

“…Males suffered also from testicles and skin cancer. Comparative research conducted in the same study showed that the mammary and testicular neoplasia seemed to be more frequent in dogs than in humans, while intestinal, pulmonary and prostatic malignancies were less common in dogs, each of them was under 1% of total (Gamlem et al 2008).…”