Genetic Instability of a Polydactyl Hypopigmented Cat With Squamous Cell Carcinoma—A Case Report

Abstract

Polydactyly, hypopigmentation, and squamous cell carcinoma are common in cats. However, a cat exhibiting all of these conditions has not yet been reported. This study presents the case of a 14-year-old male Mexican cat, hypopigmented, with supernumerary fingers, two preaxial and one on each posterior limb, admitted to the clinic with a lesion in the left periocular region. The cat was subjected to a general physical examination, blood, and urine chemistry, as well as a biopsy and genomic instability assessment with an analysis of the red blood cells (RBC) micronucleated erythrocytes (RBC-MNE) in the peripheral blood. The biopsy was positive for squamous cell carcinoma, and the RBC-MNE count (8.6 MNE/1000 erythrocytes) was high compared to that previously described in other domestic cats or wild cats. Thus, the genomic instability of the RBC-MNE could be used as an indicator to identify clinical conditions of felines, particularly those with one of the characteristics exhibited by this Mexican cat. The RBC-MNE test is the most widely used in the world for the evaluation of DNA damage, but to our knowledge, it has not been used to identify vulnerable non-human specimens.

Micronúcleos: Actualización del papel en la inestabilidad genética, inflamación, envejecimiento y cáncer. Revisión panorámica.

“…Dependiendo de la especie se debe considerar la histología del bazo, ya que el sinusoidal elimina los eritrocitos micronucleados (EMN) de sangre periférica casi al 100%, como sucede en el humano; en contraste, el bazo no sinusoidal no es tan eficiente en retirar los EMN, por ello en sangre periférica se pueden observar altas frecuencias de EMN espontáneos, como en el ratón. La prueba de EMN en sangre periférica requiere de solo unas gotas de sangre, hacer dos frotis (el de trabajo y el de respaldo) el conteo es sobre 10, 000 eritrocitos totales (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16).…”