Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Can biopsy results predict early tumor growth in cats with nasal
By Poirier, Valerie J et al.·Published in Veterinary and comparative oncology·2025·Department of Clinical Studies, Canada·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Do Pre-Treatment Biopsy Characteristics Predict Early Tumour Progression in Feline Diffuse Large B Cell Nasal Lymphoma Treated With Radiotherapy?
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of cats with localized nasal lymphoma, a type of cancer, were treated with radiation therapy to see how effective it was. Out of 28 cats, 17 remained free of disease progression after one year, while 11 experienced some level of progression, either locally or systemically. Researchers looked at various biopsy characteristics before treatment to see if they could predict which cats would do better, but none of the factors they examined were able to reliably indicate early treatment failure. This suggests that while radiation therapy can be effective, predicting outcomes based on pre-treatment biopsies may not be possible.
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Abstract
The standard of care treatment for localised feline nasal lymphoma (FeNL) is radiation therapy (RT). Early local or systemic failure occurs in 17%-45% of cats treated with RT with or without chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to determine if pre-treatment biopsy characteristics could predict early tumour progression in FeNL. Inclusion criteria consisted of histologically confirmed FeNL, available paraffin blocks of diagnostic quality, localised to the sinonasal cavity on staging pre-RT, treated with IMRT/IGRT (10 × 4.2 Gy) without chemotherapy and at least 1 year follow-up. All pre-RT biopsies were reviewed and evaluated with CD3, CD20, CD79a, pan-CK and Ki-67 immunohistochemistry and the mitotic activity index was determined. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS) at 1 year and hazard-ratios (HR) with confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Twenty-eight cats fit the inclusion criteria, and all had diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Seventeen cats (61%) were progression free at 1 year. Of the 11 cats that progressed in the first year, two had local progression, two had both local and systemic progression and seven had systemic progression. The mitotic index (HR: 1.03, CI 0.9-1.19, p = 0.645), Ki-67 (HR: 1.00, CI 0.98-1.02, p = 0.845) and > 30% of tumour-infiltrating T cells (HR: 0.38, CI 0.09-1.56, p = 0.175) were not significantly associated with PFS. In this uniformly RT treated population of FeNL, none of the evaluated pre-RT histologic parameters could predict early treatment failure.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39631747/