Significance of Tumor-Infiltrating Immune Cells in Spontaneous Canine Mammary Gland Tumor: 140 Cases

• DOI: 10.1292/jvms.11-0118
• Publication Date: 2011-09-22T05:52:25Z
• Authors: Kohei SAEKI; Yoshifumi ENDO; Kazuyuki UCHIDA; Ryohei NISHIMURA; Nobuo SASAKI; Takayuki NAKAGAWA
• Keywords: 03 medical and health sciences; Chi-Square Distribution; Dogs; Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating; 0302 clinical medicine; Animals; Female; Mammary Neoplasms, Animal; Dog Diseases; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes; Immunohistochemistry

The numbers of tumor infiltrating T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes and antigen presenting cells were evaluated in an immunohistochemical manner in 140 canine spontaneous mammary gland tumor (MGT) tissues. As a result, we found a statistically significant increase in the number of intratumoral T lymphocytes (23.2 ± 23.8) in the malignant MGT group (n=51) compared with the benign MGT group (14.0 ± 16.0, n=89; P<0.05). Moreover, the high T lymphocyte infiltration in the malignant group correlated with poor prognosis in multivariate analysis (P<0.05). This study indicated the relationship between increased infiltrating T lymphocytes and canine MGT malignancy.