Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Poor prognosis linked to EGFR in cat skin cancer
By Sabattini, Silvia et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2010·Department of Veterinary Public Health and Animal Pathology, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Epidermal growth factor receptor expression is predictive of poor prognosis in feline cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A study found that cats with a type of skin cancer called cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) often had a protein called epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) present in their tumors, which was linked to a worse prognosis. Out of 19 cats tested, 14 had EGFR-positive tumors, and nearly half of the cats with these tumors died from cancer-related issues within two years. Cats with EGFR-positive tumors had shorter survival times and less time without disease compared to those without this protein. Researchers suggest that using EGFR inhibitors along with standard treatments might help improve outcomes for these cats.
People also search for: cat skin cancer prognosis · feline squamous cell carcinoma treatment · EGFR inhibitors for cats
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression in feline cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (FC-SCC) and assess its prognostic role. Nineteen formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded excisional biopsies of FC-SCC were tested for EGFR expression using immunohistochemistry (IHC). Relationships between EGFR expression and histopathological parameters (differentiation, mitotic activity), disease-free interval (DFI) and overall survival (OS) at 24 months were further investigated. Fourteen of 19 tumours (73.7%) were positive for EGFR, with great variation in intensity and proportion of labelled cells. EGFR expression was not correlated with tumour differentiation or mitotic activity. Nine cats (47.4%) died of tumour-related causes. Patients with EGFR-positive tumours had a significantly worse outcome (P=0.0217), with decreased DFIs (P=0.0075) and survival times (P=0.0391). These data suggest that EGFR expression carries a negative prognostic significance in FC-SCC. EGFR inhibitors in association with conventional treatments may improve outcome for the subgroup of cats with EGFR-positive tumours.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20674427/