Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Feline intestinal mast cell tumors signs and KIT gene study
By Sabattini, Silvia et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2016·Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Feline intestinal mast cell tumours: clinicopathological characterisation and KIT mutation analysis.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 10-year-old cat was diagnosed with intestinal mast cell tumors, which are rare and can be aggressive. The tumors were found in different parts of the intestines, and the cat's survival varied widely, from just a few days to over a year. The study looked at how well the tumors were differentiated and their growth activity, finding that poorly differentiated tumors were linked to shorter survival times. Unfortunately, no specific genetic mutations were identified that could help in treatment. This highlights the need for more research to better understand these tumors and improve outcomes for affected cats.
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Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Feline intestinal mast cell tumours (FIMCTs) are rare and reportedly characterised by poor differentiation, aggressive biological behaviour and lack of reliable therapeutic aids. KIT proto-oncogene-activating mutations have never been investigated in these tumours. This study describes the main clinicopathological and microscopic features observed in 17 FIMCTs. METHODS: Tumour degree of differentiation, proliferative activity, Kit protein expression and KIT mutations were evaluated and correlated with survival to assess their prognostic relevance. RESULTS: Ten tumours were located in the small intestine, two in the ileocaecocolic junction, and five in the large intestine. Survival times ranged from 3-538 days. Fifteen tumours were evaluated histologically, and there were six well-differentiated, six moderately differentiated and three poorly differentiated FIMCTs. The last showed a medium-to-large deposition of collagen tissue (P <0.001), and significantly higher mitotic and Ki67 indexes compared with more differentiated tumours (P = 0.011). On survival analysis, tumour degree of differentiation (P <0.001) and a mitotic index >2 (P = 0.022) were significantly associated with decreased survival times. Twelve cases showed Kit protein immunoexpression. The Kit pattern was membranous in five cases (33.3%), focal paranuclear in five (33.3%) and diffuse cytoplasmic in two (13.3%). Cytoplasmic Kit patterns were associated with a lesser differentiation (P = 0.015). Mutation analysis was successfully performed on 12 primary tumours and four lymph node metastases; however, no encoding mutation was detected. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Contrary to reports in the literature, FIMCTs seem to have an extremely variable biological behaviour. We propose a classification based on tumour degree of differentiation and proliferative activity. These findings need to be confirmed in larger series, and exploration of further genomic regions of KIT is warranted to clarify its role in the development and progression of these neoplasms.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25916685/