Mammary cancer is a serious health issue in pet rabbits; prognostic factors
are unknown. In a normal mammary gland, glandular secretory cells are surrounded by a single
continuous layer of myoepithelial cells. In non-invasive mammary carcinomas, tumor cells are
delineated by an intact myoepithelial layer, which is gradually lost to invasive carcinomas. The main
aim of this study was to determine in rabbit mammary carcinomas (n = 119) the expression of
myoepithelial markers that have prognostic significance in human cancer. Results show that all
cases contained some retained myoepithelial cells. In 93% of the tumors, neoplastic cells expressed
the myoepithelial marker calponin. There was a statistically significant association between higher
percentages of calponin-containing cancer cells and histological features indicative of a better tumor
differentiation, i.e., a lower proliferation of tumor cells, an increased percentage of tubular growth
within the tumor, and a lower tumor grade, respectively. These results suggest that rabbit mammary
carcinomas develop from progression of non-invasive cancer forms, and that calponin expression in
cancer cells likely represents a favorable prognostic factor. The latter hypothesis has to be confirmed
in long-term follow-up studies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:84604 |
| Date | 06 April 2023 |
| Creators | Degner, Sophie, Schoon, Heinz-Adolf, Degner, Sebastian, Baudis, Mathias, Schandelmaier, Claudia, Aupperle-Lellbach, Heike, Schöninger, Sandra |
| Publisher | MDPI |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 2076-2615, 740 |
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