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Expression of epidermal growth factor receptor and vascular endothelial growth factor in malignant canine epithelial nasal tumours *
Author(s) -
Shiomitsu K.,
Johnson C. L.,
Malarkey D. E.,
Pruitt A. F.,
Thrall D. E.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
veterinary and comparative oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.864
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1476-5829
pISSN - 1476-5810
DOI - 10.1111/j.1476-5829.2008.00178.x
Subject(s) - immunohistochemistry , epidermal growth factor receptor , vascular endothelial growth factor , pathology , epidermal growth factor , cancer research , biology , carcinogenesis , egfr inhibitors , growth factor receptor inhibitor , staining , medicine , receptor , vegf receptors , cancer
Abstract Epidermal growth factor (EGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signalling pathways play a role in carcinogenesis. Inhibition of EGF receptor (EGFR) and of VEGF is effective in increasing the radiation responsiveness of neoplastic cells both in vitro and in human trials. In this study, immunohistochemical evaluation was employed to determine and characterize the potential protein expression levels and patterns of EGFR and VEGF in a variety of canine malignant epithelial nasal tumours. Of 24 malignant canine nasal tumours, 13 (54.2%) were positive for EGFR staining and 22 (91.7%) were positive for VEGF staining. The intensity and percentage of immunohistochemically positive neoplastic cells for EGFR varied. These findings indicate that EGFR and VEGF proteins were present in some malignant epithelial nasal tumours in the dogs, and therefore, it may be beneficial to treat canine patients with tumours that overexpress EGFR and VEGF with specific inhibitors in conjunction with radiation.