Aberrant Expression of E-cadherin/β-catenin During Epidermal Tumourigenesis in Dogs

SANZ RESSEL, B.L.; MASSONE, A.R.; BARBEITO, C.G.

JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PATHOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCI LTD

Año: 2020 vol. 176 p. 1 - 9

0021-9975

Clinically relevant epidermal tumours in dogs include cutaneous papillomas (CPs) and cutaneous squamouscell carcinomas (CSCCs). The development of CPs and CSCCs involves dysregulation in expression of E-cadherin/b-catenin; however, knowledge about the contribution of these molecules to epidermal tumourigenesis indogs is limited. This study examined the immunohistochemical expression pattern of E-cadherin/b-catenin insamples of normal canine epidermis, CPs, preneoplastic epidermis and CSCCs, using tissue microarrays, in orderto elucidate whether the dysregulated expression of these molecules may contribute to the pathogenesis ofclinically relevant epidermal tumours in dogs. We also investigated the correlation between the immunohistochemicalexpression pattern of E-cadherin/b-catenin in these tissue microarrays to further evaluate whether thedisruption of the adherens junction interactions plays a relevant role in canine epidermal tumourigenesis. Insamples of CP and preneoplastic epidermis, the membrane immunoreactivity of E-cadherin/b-catenin wasconserved, while in CSCC, the immunoreactivity of these molecules was significantly reduced, independentlyof the tumour location. There was significant correlation between the membrane expression of E-cadherin/b-catenin in CSCC. b-catenin also showed cytoplasmic and nuclear expression in samples of CP, preneoplasticepidermis and CSCC. These results support the hypothesis that dysregulated expression of E-cadherin/b-catenin may play a critical role in the pathogenesis of relevant canine epidermal tumours, not only due tothe disruption of the intercellular adherens junctions, but also due to the dysregulated activity of the signallingpathways in which these molecules are involved.