Giugliano Roberta, Dell'Anno Filippo, De Paolis Livia, Crescio Maria Ines, Ciccotelli Valentina, Vivaldi Barbara, Razzuoli Elisabetta
National Reference Center of Veterinary and Comparative Oncology (CEROVEC), Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d'Aosta, Genoa, Italy.
Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Front Vet Sci. 2024 Aug 14;11:1320696. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1320696. eCollection 2024.
Cancer is a leading cause of death in cats, and the rate of such disease has been increasing recently. Nonetheless, feline oncology represents an important area of study not only for the health and wellbeing of cats but also for human health since various types of cancer in cats share similarities to those found in humans. Therefore, epidemiological studies on feline oncology may suggest environmental and genetic factors contributing to cancer in cats, which can eventually be translated to improve human cancer care.
To provide an initial understanding of the epidemiology of feline neoplasms, a descriptive study was undertaken using a dataset documenting cases of feline cancer gathered from the Liguria region (northwest Italy) spanning from 2002 to 2022. The database includes tumor location, morphological codes of the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, 3rd Edition (ICD-O-3), feline's breed, sex, neuter status, date of birth, date of diagnosis, national territorial unit code of the town of the owner's residence, and an alphanumeric string uniquely identifying the owner's surname.
The dataset involves a population of 4,399 cats, including 3,195 females (1,425 neutered) and 1,204 males (750 neutered). Our results indicate that mammary gland tumors are the most represented tumors in the female population, while soft tissue and skin cancers appear to have a higher abundance in the male population during the periods investigated (2002-2022). Moreover, Poisson regression analysis showed that not neutered female cats have a significantly increased risk of developing mammary gland tumors compared to the neutered female population [proportional morbidity ratio (PMR) neutered vs. not neutered = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.47-0.72]; meanwhile, for both sexes, for soft tissue and skin tumors, being neutered appears to be a risk factor (PMR neutered vs. not neutered = 2.26, 95% CI: 1.86-2.73; PMR neutered vs. not neutered = 1.16, 95% CI: 0.89-1.51). Finally, the evaluation of the Ligurian municipalities pollution, based on wild boars data (i.e., biomonitors), which coexisted with cats, was correlated to cancer development for all the tumors investigated (in polluted areas, estimated PMRs ranged from 42.61 to 80.13, 95% CI: 29.94-105.11). Overall, the data presented here suggest the use of the feline population as a possible animal model for human health, i.e., sentinel.
癌症是猫死亡的主要原因，且这种疾病的发病率最近一直在上升。尽管如此，猫肿瘤学不仅是研究猫健康和福祉的重要领域，对人类健康也很重要，因为猫的各种癌症与人类的癌症有相似之处。因此，猫肿瘤学的流行病学研究可能会揭示导致猫患癌症的环境和遗传因素，最终有助于改善人类癌症护理。
为初步了解猫肿瘤的流行病学，我们进行了一项描述性研究，使用了一个数据集，该数据集记录了2002年至2022年期间从意大利西北部利古里亚地区收集的猫癌症病例。该数据库包括肿瘤位置、国际肿瘤疾病分类第三版（ICD - O - 3）的形态学编码、猫的品种、性别、绝育状态、出生日期、诊断日期、主人居住城镇的国家领土单位代码，以及一个唯一标识主人姓氏的字母数字字符串。
该数据集涉及4399只猫，其中包括3195只雌性猫（1425只已绝育）和1204只雄性猫（750只已绝育）。我们的结果表明，乳腺肿瘤在雌性猫群体中最为常见，而在研究期间（2002 - 2022年），软组织和皮肤癌在雄性猫群体中似乎更为常见。此外，泊松回归分析表明，与已绝育的雌性猫相比，未绝育的雌性猫患乳腺肿瘤的风险显著增加[已绝育与未绝育的比例发病率（PMR）= 0.58，95%置信区间：0.47 - 0.72]；同时，对于两性而言，对于软组织和皮肤肿瘤，绝育似乎是一个风险因素（已绝育与未绝育的PMR = 2.26，95%置信区间：1.86 - 2.73；已绝育与未绝育的PMR = 1.16，95%置信区间：0.89 - 1.51）。最后，根据与猫共存的野猪数据（即生物监测器）对利古里亚市的污染进行评估，发现其与所有调查肿瘤的癌症发生相关（在污染地区，估计的PMR范围为42.61至80.13，95%置信区间：29.94 - 105.11）。总体而言，此处呈现的数据表明可将猫群体用作人类健康的一种可能的动物模型，即哨兵。
