Acantholytic squamous cell carcinoma in a cow

Abstract

A subcutaneous mass in the perineal area of a female Holstein cow underwent histo-pathological evaluation. Microscopically, this lesion revealed a prominent alveolar pattern that extended into the dermis with internal pseudolumina that contained detached tumour cells. Histo-chemically, tumour cells were mucin-negative. Immuno-histochemistry revealed intra-cytoplasmic reactivity for cytokeratin MNF116 and cytokeratin 10 with strong staining intensity for Glut1 located on the cell membrane, however, cells were negative for cytokeratin 7, 8 and 20, Vimentin and vWF, suggesting they originated from stratified epithelia and not from ductal or glandular epithelia as well as differentiating from sarcomas like angiosarcoma. Immuno-staining results further verified that the tumour was a proliferative lesion of the squamous cell type but was an uncommon entity that may have differentiated from ordinary squamous cell carcinoma as reported in the veterinary literature.