Chon E, Thompson V, Schmid S, Stein T J
Department of Medical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
J Comp Pathol. 2013 Feb;148(2-3):178-87. doi: 10.1016/j.jcpa.2012.07.001. Epub 2012 Aug 14.
Canine malignant melanoma is a highly aggressive tumour associated with a poor overall survival rate due to both local disease recurrence and its highly metastatic nature. Similar to advanced melanoma in man, canine oral melanoma is poorly responsive to conventional anti-cancer therapies. The lack of sustainable disease control warrants investigation of novel therapies, preferably targeting features specific to the tumour and different from normal cells. The Wnt signalling pathway is known to contribute to melanocytic lineage development in vertebrates and perturbation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway has been implicated in numerous cancer types. Alterations of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway are suggested to occur in a subset of human melanomas, although the precise role of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in melanoma is yet to be defined. This study investigates the activation status of the canonical Wnt/β-catenin pathway in canine malignant melanoma and its potential as a therapeutic target for treating this disease. The data indicate that canonical Wnt/β-catenin pathway activation is a rare event in canine oral malignant melanoma tissue and canine malignant melanoma cell lines.
犬恶性黑色素瘤是一种侵袭性很强的肿瘤，由于局部疾病复发及其高度转移性，总体生存率很低。与人类晚期黑色素瘤相似，犬口腔黑色素瘤对传统抗癌疗法反应不佳。由于缺乏可持续的疾病控制方法，因此有必要研究新的疗法，最好是针对肿瘤特有的、不同于正常细胞的特征。已知Wnt信号通路有助于脊椎动物黑素细胞谱系的发育，Wnt/β-连环蛋白通路的紊乱与多种癌症类型有关。虽然Wnt/β-连环蛋白通路在黑色素瘤中的确切作用尚未明确，但有人认为在一部分人类黑色素瘤中会发生该通路的改变。本研究调查了经典Wnt/β-连环蛋白通路在犬恶性黑色素瘤中的激活状态及其作为治疗该疾病的治疗靶点的潜力。数据表明，经典Wnt/β-连环蛋白通路激活在犬口腔恶性黑色素瘤组织和犬恶性黑色素瘤细胞系中是罕见事件。
