Abstract
Canine cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) is the most common skin cancer in dogs, and, due to its low metastatic rate, local treatments, such as electrochemotherapy (ECT), promote disease control or even complete remission (CR). This study aimed to evaluate the gene and protein expression of Bcl-2 and Bcl-2 associated X protein (BAX), the proliferative index and clinical parameters in dogs with cSCC subjected to ECT. A prospective nonrandomized clinical study was performed using dogs with naturally occurring cSCC that was treated with ECT. Eighteen lesions from 11 dogs were selected. The tumor size at day 0 (D0) had no impact on survival or prognosis (P > 0.05). Tumor samples had a lower proliferative index after ECT (D21) than before ECT (P = 0.031). The survival of subjects with Ki67 values lower and higher than the Ki67 median value were not significantly different (P > 0.05). Regarding apoptotic markers, there were no significant differences in the gene and protein expression levels of BAX or Bcl-2 at D0 and D21 (P > 0.05) or in the overall survival of subjects with different levels of apoptotic markers. In conclusion, there was no change in BAX or Bcl-2 gene and protein expression in response to ECT at the time points evaluated, but ECT was able to reduce tumor volume and cellular proliferation in cSCC.
Highlights
Canine cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma is the most common skin cancer in dogs, and, due to its low metastatic rate, local treatments, such as electrochemotherapy (ECT), promote disease control or even complete remission (CR)
We evaluated the tumor size at day 0 (D0) as a prognostic factor according to the TNM recommendation for human SCCs, and we grouped the subjects based on tumor volume
Because cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) has a low-level response to chemotherapy and a low metastatic rate, a localized approach is required to achieve long-term disease-free intervals and overall survival
Summary
Canine cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) is the most common skin cancer in dogs, and, due to its low metastatic rate, local treatments, such as electrochemotherapy (ECT), promote disease control or even complete remission (CR). This study aimed to evaluate the gene and protein expression of Bcl-2 and Bcl-2 associated X protein (BAX), the proliferative index and clinical parameters in dogs with cSCC subjected to ECT. CSCCs are locally invasive tumors with a low metastatic rate (13%)[10,11,12,13] similar to that in humans (5%); metastasis mainly occurs in locoregional lymph nodes[14,15,16] Due to this low risk of metastasis, local treatments, such as surgery, cryotherapy, radiotherapy, photodynamic therapy and electrochemotherapy (ECT), promote disease control and extend survival in most cases[1,17]. For the tumors that expressed both BAX and BCL-2, the BAX:BCL-2 ratio was low[30]
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