Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with malignant melanoma and KIT mutation treated with toceranib
By Tani, Hiroyuki et al.·Published in BMC veterinary research·2021·Department of Veterinary Clinical Pathology, Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: A canine case of malignant melanoma carrying a KIT c.1725_1733del mutation treated with toceranib: a case report and in vitro analysis.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 10-year-old Shiba Inu was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma in the mouth, which had spread to a lymph node in the neck. The dog was treated with a medication called toceranib, which helped reduce symptoms like bad breath, swelling, and bleeding from the tumor. After 15 days, the lymph node shrank, and by Day 29, the size of the tumor in the mouth and surrounding areas also decreased. Unfortunately, the treatment was stopped after 43 days due to the cancer worsening, and the dog passed away 54 days after starting treatment. This case suggests that toceranib may be a potential option for treating this aggressive type of cancer in dogs.
People also search for: dog mouth tumor treatment · Shiba Inu melanoma · toceranib for dog cancer · canine malignant melanoma symptoms · dog cancer survival rates
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Canine malignant melanoma is highly aggressive and generally chemoresistant. Toceranib is a kinase inhibitor drug that inhibits several tyrosine kinases including the proto-oncogene receptor tyrosine kinase KIT. Although canine malignant melanoma cells often express KIT, a therapeutic effect for toceranib has yet to be reported for this tumor, with only a small number of patients studied to date. This is a case report of a dog with malignant melanoma that experienced a transient response to toceranib. Furthermore, the KIT expressed in the tumor of this case was examined using molecular analysis. CASE PRESENTATION: A Shiba Inu dog presented with a gingival malignant melanoma extending into surrounding structures with metastasis to a submandibular lymph node. The dog was treated with toceranib (Palladia®; 2.6-2.9 mg/kg, orally, every other day) alone. Improvement of tumor-associated clinical signs (e.g., halitosis, tumor hemorrhage, trismus, and facial edema) with reduced size of the metastatic lymph node was observed on Day 15. The gingival tumor and associated masses in the masseter and pterygoid muscles decreased in size by Day 29 of treatment. Toceranib treatment was terminated on Day 43 due to disease progression and the dog died on Day 54. The tumor of this dog had a novel deletion mutation c.1725_1733del within KIT and the mutation caused ligand-independent phosphorylation of KIT, which was suppressed by toceranib. This mutation was considered to be an oncogenic driver mutation in the tumor of this dog, thereby explaining the anti-tumor activity of toceranib. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report that presents a canine case of malignant melanoma that responded to toceranib therapy. KIT encoded by KIT harboring a mutation c.1725_1733del is a potential therapeutic target for toceranib in canine malignant melanoma. Further investigation of the KIT mutation status and toceranib therapy in canine malignant melanoma will need to be undertaken.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33827546/