engleski

IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EXPRESSION OF β1 INTEGRIN IN CANINE CUTANEOUS MELANOCYTIC TUMORS

Canine melanocytic tumors in dogs present 4-20% of all skin tumors. They occur in older dogs, usually with darker hair and skin. Most of these tumors are benign. Malignant tumors can often be difficult to distinguish due to mimicking of other tumor types, high pigmentation or benign appearance of tumor cells but concurrently malignant biological behavior. Integrins are transmembrane receptors which mediate in cellular signalization between cells and its environment. Generally, β1 integrin appears to be involved in tumor progression due to dynamic changes in its expression which depends on tumor type. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry were performed on 48 cutaneous melanocytic tumors. According to the biological behavior tumors were subdivided in two groups (malignant melanoma, n=22 ; melanocytoma, n=26). Melan A was used to confirm a diagnosis only in amelanotic and scant pigmented malignant tumors. β1 integrin antibody was used in all tumors. Chisquared test was preformed for statistical analysis. Malignant tumors showed expression of Melan A in 78%. Positivity of β1 integrin was higher in malignant (77.3%) when compared to benign (30, 8%) melanocytic tumors (p<0, 05) with mostly moderate to strong expression in malignant melanoma (64.7%). The results of Melan A were similar to previous studies. However, the results of β1 integrin expression confirmed differences between melanocytic tumors according to their biological behavior. Its significantly higher expression in cutaneous malignant tumors suggests a possible role in tumor progression and consequently its metastatic potential when compared with benign counterparts.

β1 integrin, melanocytic tumors, skin, dog

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