Mammary Carcinoma with Metastasis in a Rhesus Monkey (Macaca mulatta)

Abstract

Spontaneous neoplasms are seen fairly frequently in nonhuman primates, primarily due to their increased longevity? Neoplasms of the mammary gland are rare in nonhuman primates: carcinomas are most common, and most have been reported in the rhesus monkey. Other mammary neoplasms reported in nonhuman primates include a mixed mammary tumor, a spindle cell sarcoma, a fibroadenoma, a squamous cell epithelioma. and a fibrosarcoma. In nonhuman primates, most mammary carcinomas had distant metastases.(' We describe a spontaneous metastatic mammary carcinoma in a rhesus monkey (Mucucu mirlutlu).A 22-year-old imported female rhesus monkey served as a control in a life-time study. She was housed conventionally in one facility for 18 years: body weight, blood counts, and serum chemistries were done quarterly throughout her life. No significant health problems occurred until five years prior to her death when a nodule, 1.5 cm in diameter, was visually detected and palpated in her left breast. The left mass enlarged. and a 2.5 cm diameter mass was detected in the right breast four years later. Five years after detection of the original mammary tumor, the monkey developed labored respiration and had prominent lung sounds upon auscultation. Radiographs showed numerous irregular radiopacities in the lungs consistent with metastatic foci. The monkey was painlessly killed with an overdose of a barbiturate solution.Grossly, the mammary masses were similar. The left mammary gland had several variably sized nodules, and the axillary lymph nodes were enlarged. The right mammary gland had a solitary 2.5 cm diameter nodule. The nodules were white, shiny, firm, and contained caseous, clear fluid-filled or empty centers on cut surface. Multifocal to confluent nodules similar to those in the mammary glands were found in all lobes of the lung, and in the bronchial and mediastinal lymph nodes ( fig. I). Smaller, various-sized nodules similar to those seen in the lungs were found in the liver, mesentery. and coronary arteries.Microscopically, the neoplastic nodules had abundant fibrous stroma. The ducts of the mammary gland tumors contained neoplastic epithelial cells that often completely filled the lumens ( fig. 2). Central necrosis of solid cords of cells was common. Penetration of neoplastic cells through basement membranes into the stroma was a prominent fea- ture of the tumor. The individual tumor cells varied from round to oval to irregular with distinct outlines and generally abundant, often vacuolated, basophilic cytoplasms. The nuclei were large, round to irregular, often eccentrically located and contained distinct, frequently multiple, nucleoli. Mitotic figures were common ( fig. 3). Tumor cells were seen in lymphatics and vascular spaces. Neoplastic cells infiltrated into adjacent mammary adipose tissue, and were present in the cerebrum, regional lymph nodes, ovary, coronary arteries, skin, mesentery, adrenals, lungs, liver, kidneys and eye ( fig. 4).Tumor tissue from the mammary gland, lung, liver, and axillary lymph nodes was ...

Neoplasia and Proliferative Disorders of Nonhuman Primates

“…In man, squamous cell carcinoma is commonly associated with prolonged exposure to UV radiation; however a similar pathogenesis has not been studied extensively in macaques. Squamous cell carcinoma has been reported to arise spontaneously in the skin of rhesus (Migaki et al, 1971;Hubbard et al, 1983) and cynomolgus macaques (Morin et al, 1980), baboons (Haddad et al, 2009), a white-lipped tamarin (Richter and Buyukmihci, 1979), and a sooty mangaby (Morales et al, 2006) (Figure 6.18). A solitary case of facial squamous cell carcinoma is reported in an African green monkey that was chronically exposed to the mycotoxin sterigmatocystin (Fincham et al, 1982).…”

Neoplasms and Proliferative Disorders in Nonhuman Primates

“…Reported from macaques were squamous cell carcinomas, basal cell tumors, multiple papilliferous cystadenoma in a cynomolgous [65], and an unspecified carcinoma. There are also recent case reports of metastatic squamous cell carcinoma in a rhesus and a cynomolgous [53,83]. A large survey of necropsies in nonhuman primates listed hemangiomas, lipomas, and a mast cell tumor [78].…”

“…Ott-Joselin and Ms. P. Stout; Dr. E. Dolensek; Drs. K. Hinshaw and R. Snyder; Dr. S. Gosselin; Dr. M. Burton; Dr. R. Bran- 53. Neoplasms and Proliferative Disorders…”

Carcinoma mamário pouco diferenciado em macaco-prego, Cebus sp. (Cebidae)

“…Estas neoplasias são bem mais frequentes em humanos e foram encontrados apenas 35 relatos em primatas não humanos. Nestes relatos os tipos histológicos encontrados foram os seguintes: adenocarcinoma, sarcoma fusocelular, tumor misto, carcinoma de células escamosas, carcinoma ductal, fibroadenoma, e fibrossarcoma (Tekeli & Ford 1980, Hubbard et al 1984, Waggie et al 2000, Lewis & Colgin 2005, Smith et al 2005.…”