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Peer-reviewed veterinary case report

Chemotherapy treatment and tumor changes in dogs with transmissible

By Javanbakht, J et al.·Published in Tumour biology : the journal of the International Society for Oncodevelopmental Biology and Medicine·2014·Department of Pathology·View original on PubMed

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Original publication title: Canine transmissible venereal tumor and seminoma: a cytohistopathology and chemotherapy study of tumors in the growth phase and during regression after chemotherapy.

Species:
dog

Plain-English summary

A group of dogs with canine transmissible venereal tumor (CTVT) and testicular seminoma were treated with chemotherapy to see how effective it was. The dogs received vincristine weekly, and if there was no improvement after eight weeks, they switched to doxorubicin. The results showed that the tumors were shrinking in most cases, and the treatment seemed to work well, with changes in the tumor cells indicating a positive response. This combination of medications could be a promising option for treating these types of tumors in dogs.

People also search for: dog cancer treatment vincristine · canine transmissible venereal tumor symptoms · testicular seminoma in dogs treatment

Abstract

In this study, 12 dogs affected by canine transmissible venereal tumor (CTVT) and testicular seminoma tumor were studied retrospectively. The cytological sample was smeared onto a glass slide and either air-dried for May-Grünwald-stain, and masses were surgically removed. The tumors were grossly examined, and sections of 4-μm thick were obtained from each sample and stained with H&E. For chemotherapy, vincristine sulfate was administered weekly as an infusion over 3 min via the cephalic vein at a dose of 0.025 mg/kg after diluting with physiological saline to a total amount of 10 ml. If no remission was observed after 8 weeks, chemotherapy was continued with weekly doxorubicin infusion at a dose of 1 mg/kg. All the tumor samples were divided into four cytohistopathologic groups, namely: multilobular (six cases), papillary (two cases), pedunculated (two cases), and tubular (two cases of seminoma). The most frequently represented tumor type was multilobular (6/10, 60 %) followed by pedunculated (2/10, 20 %), papillary (2/10, 20 %), and tubular (two cases of seminoma, 100 %). Cytological smears from eight tumors in regression after chemotherapy were poorly cellular, and many cells were fragmented. In two progressive tumors, there was an average of 1,406 ± 972 CTVT 200 cells/μl or 96.71 % of total cells counted. Thus, tumor cells represented 96.71 % of total cells within the biopsy specimens and the leukocytes 4.29 % (leukocyte, tumor cell ratio=0.062 ± 0.031). In eight regressive tumors, there was an average of 1,245 ± 1,032 CTVT 200 cells/μl or 97.31 % of total cells counted. Thus, tumor cells represented 97.31 % of total cells and leukocytes 2.69 % (leukocyte, tumor cell ratio=0.071 ± 0.174). Our data suggested that combination treatment with vincristine and doxorubicin in the future could be an excellent therapeutic alternative for the treatment of TVT for probably reducing the resistance to vincristine, and also, treatment success could easily be followed by the cytological changes.

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Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24557542/