Assessment of and gene status and expression profile in feline mammary tumors: findings and guidelines.

In humans, the gene amplification and overexpression are biomarkers for invasive breast cancer and a therapeutic target. Also, gene aberrations predict the response to anthracycline-based adjuvant chemotherapy. Although feline mammary tumors (FMTs) are good models in comparative oncology, scarce data is available regarding the and status. In this study, and for the first time, the DNA status and RNA levels of intracellular (ICD) and extracellular (ECD) coding regions were compared with gene status and expression profile, in samples of FMTs and disease-free tissues from the same animal. Results showed that and gene status are highly correlated (r=0.87, p<0.0001, n=25), with few tumor samples presenting amplification. Also, the majority of the FMTs showed overexpression coupled with overexpression (r=0.87, p<0.0001, n=27), being the -ICD and ECD transcripts highly correlated (r=0.97, p<0.0001, n=27). Significant associations were found between gene status or and RNA levels with several clinicopathological parameters. This work highlights the need of experimental designs for a precise evaluation of and gene status and its expression in FMTs, to improve their clinical management and to further validate them as a suitable model for comparative oncology studies.