Sfacteria A, Mazzullo G, Bertani C, Calabrò P, De Vico G, Macrì B
Department of Veterinary Public Health, Unit of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Messina, 98168, Messina, Italy.
Vet Pathol. 2005 Nov;42(6):837-40. doi: 10.1354/vp.42-6-837.
Erythropoietin (EPO) is a cytokine primarily involved in the regulation of the erythropoiesis. Recently, it has been demonstrated that EPO and its receptor (EPOR) are expressed in several neoplastic cell lines and solid tumors. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo studies have shown that EPO could promote human breast carcinoma growth by means of the binding with its receptor, although a clear function for EPO in this setting has not been yet established. While the human medical literature has been accumulating strong evidence on EPO's role in oncogenesis, to date, there are no veterinary reports focusing on such an issue. The aim of the present study was to investigate the immunohistochemical expression of EPOR in canine mammary gland dysplastic and neoplastic lesions. Our results show a weak to moderate EPOR expression in dysplastic glands, being immunoreactivity enhanced as the lesion shows an increasing malignant pattern. On the basis of these findings, this study describes, for the first time, the evidence for EPOR expression in canine mammary gland tumor and suggests a feasible EPO's role for canine mammary tumor progression.
促红细胞生成素（EPO）是一种主要参与红细胞生成调节的细胞因子。最近，已证实EPO及其受体（EPOR）在多种肿瘤细胞系和实体瘤中表达。此外，体外和体内研究表明，EPO可通过与其受体结合促进人乳腺癌生长，尽管EPO在这种情况下的明确功能尚未确定。虽然人类医学文献已积累了关于EPO在肿瘤发生中作用的有力证据，但迄今为止，尚无关于这一问题的兽医报告。本研究的目的是调查EPOR在犬乳腺发育异常和肿瘤性病变中的免疫组化表达。我们的结果显示，发育异常腺体中EPOR表达为弱阳性至中度阳性，随着病变恶性程度增加，免疫反应性增强。基于这些发现，本研究首次描述了犬乳腺肿瘤中EPOR表达的证据，并提示EPO在犬乳腺肿瘤进展中可能发挥作用。
