Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
KIT protein expression in dog skin mast cell tumors and tumor grade
By Preziosi, Rosario et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc·2004·Department of Veterinary Public Health and Animal Pathology, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Expression of the KIT protein (CD117) in primary cutaneous mast cell tumors of the dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with skin lumps diagnosed as mast cell tumors (MCT) were studied to understand how a protein called KIT (CD117) relates to the tumors' behavior and severity. The tumors were graded based on how aggressive they were, and researchers found that different patterns of KIT expression were linked to these grades. Higher levels of KIT expression were associated with longer survival times for the dogs. This suggests that testing for KIT expression could help veterinarians predict how serious a mast cell tumor might be and guide treatment decisions.
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Abstract
Thirty-one canine cutaneous masses, diagnosed as mast cell tumors (MCT) by histopathologic analysis, were used to evaluate the immunohistochemical pattern of expression of KIT protein (CD117), a type III tyrosine kinase protein involved in mast cell growth and differentiation. Lesions were graded as I (well differentiated), II (intermediate differentiation), or III (poorly differentiated) according to the following morphologic features: invasiveness, cellularity and cellular morphology, mitotic index, and stromal reaction. Immunohistochemical KIT expression was compared with histologic grade and some histomorphologic features (cell differentiation and nuclear grade) evaluated separately. A possible predictive role of biologic behavior in MCTs for KIT expression was also investigated. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed three different patterns of KIT expression: a cytoplasmic diffuse pattern, a membranous pattern with immunostaining located on the cell surface, and a cytoplasmic perinuclear pattern, where KIT expression was detected in the cytoplasm of the neoplastic mast cells, close to the nucleus. Statistical analysis showed a close relationship between different KIT immunohistochemical patterns and histologic grade (P < 0.00000), cell differentiation (P < 0.00000), and nuclear grade (P < 0.0024). According to Kaplan-Meier-estimated survival curves compared by survival analysis, KIT expression was significantly associated with survival time (P = 0.037) but not cancer-free interval (P = 0.50). Similar to other well-known histomorphological features, KIT expression is a useful parameter of malignancy in cutaneous MCTs. KIT expression also predicted the biological behavior of the tumors in this study.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15586571/