Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
c-kit gene and protein levels studied in canine lymphoma
By Giantin, M et al.·Published in Veterinary immunology and immunopathology·2013·Dipartimento di Biomedicina Comparata e Alimentazione, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Evaluation of tyrosine-kinase receptor c-kit mutations, mRNA and protein expression in canine lymphoma: might c-kit represent a therapeutic target?
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at c-kit, a protein that may be involved in certain types of dog lymphoma, particularly B-cell and T-cell lymphomas. Researchers found that most samples had very low levels of c-kit expression, but some high-grade T-cell lymphomas showed higher levels. This suggests that c-kit could be a potential target for new treatments, especially since T-cell lymphomas can be aggressive and hard to treat. While no mutations were found that would make c-kit more active, the findings could lead to future clinical trials using medications that inhibit this protein.
People also search for: dog lymphoma treatment options · c-kit in dog cancer · high-grade T-cell lymphoma in dogs
Abstract
c-kit plays an important role in proliferation, survival and differentiation of hematopoietic progenitor cells. In human hematopoietic malignancies, c-kit is mostly expressed by progenitor cell neoplasms and seldom by mature cell neoplasms. Aim of this study was to evaluate c-kit expression in canine lymphoma. Twenty-five B-cell lymphomas and 21 T-cell lymphomas were enrolled in the study. c-kit mRNA and protein expression was measured in lymph node fine needle aspirates by quantitative real-time RT-PCR, flow cytometry and immunocytochemistry, while the occurrence of KIT mutations on exons 8-11 and 17 was investigated by direct cDNA sequencing. KIT mRNA was amplifiable but below the limit of quantification in 76% of B-cell lymphomas and 33% of T-cell lymphomas. Remaining samples showed a very low expression of KIT, except for some high grade (HG) T-cell lymphomas where a comparatively higher mRNA amount was observed. Transcriptional data were confirmed at the protein level. No gain-of-function mutations were observed. Among canine lymphomas, T-cell lymphoma typically shows an aggressive biological behavior, partly being attributable to the lack of efficacious treatment options, and the evidence of c-kit expression in HG T-cell lymphomas might represent the rationale for its routinely diagnostic evaluation and the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in future clinical trials.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23791075/