Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
EGFR protein expression in dog mammary tumors and normal tissue
By Gama, A et al.·Published in Research in veterinary science·2009·Department of Veterinary Sciences·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Immunohistochemical expression of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) in canine mammary tissues.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at 136 dogs with mammary tumors to see how a protein called Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) was expressed in their tissues. They found that EGFR was more commonly overexpressed in malignant tumors compared to benign ones, suggesting a link between high EGFR levels and more serious cancer. While older dogs and larger tumors were also noted, the study didn't find strong connections with other factors. Unfortunately, tumors with high EGFR levels were associated with shorter survival times, but the results weren't statistically significant.
People also search for: dog mammary tumor treatment · canine breast cancer symptoms · EGFR in dog tumors · dog cancer survival rates
Abstract
Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) has been extensively studied in human breast cancer; however, systematic studies of EGFR protein expression in canine mammary gland tumours are lacking. Therefore, we evaluated its immunohistochemical expression in a series of 136 canine mammary tumours and representative areas of adjacent normal and hyperplastic mammary tissue and investigated a possible correlation between EGFR overexpression and several clinicopathological parameters and survival. In normal and hyperplastic canine mammary glands, EGFR expression was consistently observed in myoepithelial cells, with luminal cells usually negative. In tumour tissues, EGFR overexpression was found in 9 benign (19.6%) and 38 malignant (42.2%) lesions, with EGFR positivity significantly related with malignancy. Besides animal age and tumour size, there were no significant associations between other clinicopathological parameters and EGFR overexpression. On survival analysis, tumours with EGFR overexpression showed a reduced disease-free and overall survival; however these associations failed to reach statistically significant levels.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19464036/