Immunohistochemical assessment of S100, Vimentin, PCNA, p53 and MMP-9 expressions in bovine melanomas

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the expression of PCNA, p53, MMP-9, Vimentin and S100 immunohistochemically and determine the aggressiveness in diagnosis of bovine melanomas. The material of this study consisted of melanoma biopsy samples taken from 10 cattle brought to our department. Tissue samples from cattle were fixed in 10% buffered formalin solution. After routine procedures paraffin blocks were cut sections of 5 μm thickness. For bleaching, some heavily pigmented tumour sections were deparaffinized, hydrated, and incubated in 10% solution of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for 5 hours at 65oC until sections appeared clear and Hematoxylin & Eosin (H&E) staining was applied to the sections to detect histopathological changes. Sections were examined and photographed under a light microscope. Avidin-Biotin Peroxidase was used as the immunohistochemical method. We observed that the tumoral mass was solitary, firm, hairless, oval-round shaped and quite large. We detected spindle and epithelioid type tumoral cells containing a lot of large brownish-black granular melanin pigments in their cytoplasm. All melanoma cases were immune positive for S100, Vimentin, PCNA, p53 and MMP-9 expressions. In conclusion, we think that these immunohistochemical markers are quite convenient in evaluating the prognosis and diagnosis of bovine melanomas.