Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Tumor-infiltrating regulatory T cells linked to worse survival
By Sakai, K et al.·Published in Veterinary and comparative oncology·2018·Department of Veterinary Clinical Pathobiology, Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Association of tumour-infiltrating regulatory T cells with adverse outcomes in dogs with malignant tumours.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at dogs with different types of cancer, including oral malignant melanomas and mammary carcinomas, to see how certain immune cells called regulatory T cells (Tregs) affected their survival. The researchers found that dogs with higher levels of Tregs in their tumors had shorter survival times compared to those with lower levels. This was particularly true for oral malignant melanomas, oral squamous cell carcinomas, and pulmonary adenocarcinomas. The findings suggest that the presence of Tregs in these tumors may indicate a worse outcome for affected dogs.
People also search for: dog cancer prognosis · oral melanoma in dogs · treatment for dog tumors · mast cell tumor survival rate · canine cancer immune response
Abstract
Regulatory T cells (Tregs) infiltrate into a variety of tumour tissues and associate with poor prognosis in humans. However, data on association of Treg infiltration with prognosis is limited in canine tumours. The purpose of this study was to examine the number of tumour-infiltrating Tregs and its association with overall survival (OS) in dogs with malignant tumours. The following 168 canine tumours were included: 37 oral malignant melanomas (OMMs); 14 oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs); 16 pulmonary adenocarcinomas (PAs); 37 mammary carcinomas (MCs); 36 mast cell tumours (MCTs) and 28 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). Normal tissues were obtained from 8 healthy dogs as controls. The number of forkhead box P3 (Foxp3)-positive Tregs in intratumoral and peritumoral areas was investigated by immunohistochemistry. OS was compared between high and low Treg groups. The number of intratumoral and peritumoral Foxp3-positive Tregs was significantly higher in OMM, OSCC, PA and MC compared with each normal tissue. There were few Foxp3-positive Tregs in MCT and HCC. With intratumoral Tregs, the OS in the high Treg group was significantly shorter than that in the low Treg group in OMM, OSCC and PA. With peritumoral Tregs, there was no significant difference for OS between the 2 groups in each tumour type. These results suggest that Tregs infiltrate into a variety of canine tumours and the abundance of Tregs are associated with poor prognosis in some solid tumour types.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29322606/