Veterinary and comparative oncology最新文献

{"title":"Canine Oral Melanoma as a Translational Model for Human Mucosal Melanoma: Molecular Architecture, Immune Landscape, and Therapeutic Implications.","authors":"Chien-Chun Kuo, Chun-Lung Chiu, Cheng-Shu Chung, Lee-Shuan Lin, Ya-Mei Chen","doi":"10.1111/vco.70103","DOIUrl":"10.1111/vco.70103","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Human mucosal melanoma (hMM) is a rare but highly aggressive malignancy with poor clinical outcomes and limited responsiveness to current immunotherapeutic strategies. Unlike cutaneous melanoma, hMM is characterized by an ultraviolet-independent pathogenesis, low tumour mutational burden, and pronounced molecular and immunological heterogeneity, which collectively inhibit effective translational modelling and therapeutic development. Naturally occurring canine oral melanoma (cOM) shares key biological features with hMM, including spontaneous tumour development in immunocompetent hosts, low mutational burden, extensive structural genomic alterations, and a highly immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment. These shared characteristics support the positioning of cOM as a relevant comparative oncology model for investigating the mechanisms underlying tumour aggressiveness, immune evasion, and therapeutic resistance in mucosal melanoma. In this review, we synthesize evidence suggesting that hMM and cOM are driven less by single dominant oncogenic mutations than by a complex convergence of pathway-level dysregulation arising from pervasive copy-number alterations, structural variants, and epigenetic plasticity. We further highlight the influence of these molecular features on immune visibility and immune suppression, as well as their contributions to the limited efficacy of single-agent targeted therapies and immune checkpoint blockade. Insights from canine immunotherapy studies provide preliminary translational support for combination-based therapeutic strategies and biomarker development. By integrating molecular, epigenetic, and immunological perspectives across species, this review supports the use of cOM as a comparative and translational platform for advancing therapeutic innovation in mucosal melanoma.</p>","PeriodicalId":23693,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary and comparative oncology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148724581","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Clinical Outcome and Histopathologic Assessment of Canine Perivulvar Mast Cell Tumours.","authors":"Madison R Ahrens, Sarah M Corner, Alison Masyr","doi":"10.1111/vco.70104","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/vco.70104","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Anatomic location is a known prognostic factor for canine mast cell tumours (MCTs). Previous publications have reported conflicting results about the clinical significance of MCT location in the inguinal and perineal regions and male genitalia. Hence, the goal of this study is to evaluate the grade, breed distribution and clinical outcome of canine perivulvar MCT. Surgical biopsy reports and associated medical records submitted between 2013 and 2024 to Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory were retrospectively evaluated. Information regarding age, reproductive status, breed, tumour location, microscopic description, histopathologic grade, and survival was collected. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to estimate median survival time (MST) with dogs lost to follow-up (LTF) or alive censored from analysis. Biopsy reports from 64 dogs with 68 perivulvar MCT were evaluated. The most common phylogenetic classification was Mastiff-Terrier (47%). The majority (97%) of evaluated MCT were cutaneous, with 85% categorised as Kiupel low grade, while the remaining 15% were high grade. Three of 19 tumours (16%) that had c-KIT PCR performed had mutations in either Exon 8 or Exon 11. KIT expression pattern was classified as Pattern 2 or 3 in 71% of evaluated tumours. Median Ki-67 proliferation index and Ki-67 × AgNOR scores were 7 and 13, respectively. MST for the entire population was 868 days. Dogs LTF had a median follow-up time of 442 days. Dogs with perivulvar MCT may achieve prolonged survival time with surgical excision, and prospective studies are warranted to determine the effect of adjuvant therapy on outcome.</p>","PeriodicalId":23693,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary and comparative oncology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148713751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Expression of Topoisomerase II Alpha in Canine Colorectal Polyps, Adenomas and Adenocarcinomas.","authors":"Joanna Fiedorowicz, Katarzyna Paździor-Czapula, Paweł Antoni Kołodziejski, Iwona Otrocka-Domagała","doi":"10.1111/vco.70101","DOIUrl":"10.1111/vco.70101","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>With the development and increased accessibility of diagnostic methods in veterinary medicine, the possibilities for early detection of proliferative lesions in the canine large intestine have expanded over the past decade. Since in human medicine, topoisomerase II alpha (Topo IIα) is considered a prognostic and predictive marker in various tumours, including colorectal carcinoma, we aimed to verify the role of this enzyme in proliferative epithelial lesions of the canine large intestine. In this study, we examined and compared the expression of Topo IIα in normal rectal mucosa, hyperplastic polyps, adenomas, and adenocarcinomas of the large intestine in dogs. Each type of lesion included 20 cases, in which the expression of Topo IIα was evaluated using immunohistochemistry. The median percentage of Topo IIα positive cells was 29.4% (IQR 24.9-37.1) in polyps, 30.3% (IQR 24.6-34.1) in adenomas, 36% (IQR 26.2-42.0) in adenocarcinomas, and 7.8% (IQR 5.9-10.6) in normal intestinal mucosa. Statistical analysis using the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dunn's post hoc tests with Bonferroni correction revealed significantly higher Topo IIα expression in hyperplastic polyps (p = 0.013, r = 0.62), adenomas (p = 0.033, r = 0.57) and adenocarcinomas (p = 0.002, r = 0.73) compared with normal rectal mucosa, with large effect sizes. Our results may serve as a preliminary basis for the potential use of anthracyclines in the treatment of canine colorectal adenocarcinomas, as well as in multiple adenomas or polyps when surgical options are limited. This study presents new insights of Topo IIα expression in canine large intestine carcinogenesis and could provide a valuable foundation for further clinical research.</p>","PeriodicalId":23693,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary and comparative oncology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148726599","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Differential Effects of Cobalt Chloride Preconditioning on Vasculogenic Mimicry-Like Structure Formation in Two Canine Mammary Tumour Cell Lines.","authors":"Yunho Jeong, Jeong-Ho Ha, Jin-Young Chung, Jung Hoon Choi, Jin-Ok Ahn","doi":"10.1111/vco.70102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/vco.70102","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Vasculogenic mimicry (VM) is a tumour cell-lined vessel-like structure associated with poor prognosis, metastasis, and treatment resistance in human breast cancer. Furthermore, it has been described in canine mammary tumours (CMTs). Hypoxia is an established driving factor for VM formation in tumours with this capability. This study aimed to compare VM-like structure formation between two CMT carcinoma cell lines, CF41.Mg and CMT-U27. VM-like tubular structure formation was evaluated using a Matrigel-based 3D cell culture system under normal conditions and after CoCl₂ preconditioning. VM-like tubular structures were observed only in CF41.Mg cells, and CoCl₂ preconditioning increased the number of meshes and segments without a time-dependent difference between 24 and 48 h. In contrast, CMT-U27 cells did not form VM-like structures under the tested conditions. Subsequently, RNA sequencing, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and Western blot analyses were conducted. Exploratory RNA sequencing of untreated cells showed differences in the expression patterns of selected genes involved in angiogenesis, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, cell migration, hypoxia-associated responses, and extracellular matrix organization between the two cell lines. CoCl₂ treatment was associated with VM-related transcriptional and protein-level changes in CF41.Mg cells. In contrast, CoCl₂ treatment was associated with E-cadherin upregulation and no significant changes in MMP2 or CDH2 expression in CMT-U27 cells. Taken together, under the tested conditions, CoCl₂ preconditioning enhanced VM-like structure formation in CF41.Mg cells but did not induce VM-like tubular structures in CMT-U27 cells.</p>","PeriodicalId":23693,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary and comparative oncology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148707858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fluvastatin Plus Dipyridamole Suppresses Canine Hemangiosarcoma Growth in Patient-Derived Xenograft Models Through Lactate Dehydrogenase-Associated Cholesterol/Lipid Metabolism.","authors":"Tamami Suzuki, Suzune Tanaka, Keika Kishimoto, Takuma Goto, Jumpei Yamazaki, Takashi Kimura, Keisuke Aoshima","doi":"10.1111/vco.70097","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/vco.70097","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Tumour cells commonly exhibit aerobic glycolysis and produce lactate despite oxygen availability. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) catalyses pyruvate-lactate interconversion and regulates intracellular lactate levels. Endothelial cells also depend on glycolysis for ATP production, which prompted us to investigate LDH in canine hemangiosarcoma (HSA), a malignant endothelial tumour. We inhibited LDH with (R)-GNE-140 or sodium oxamate in two canine HSA cell lines (HU-HSA-2 and HU-HSA-3) and generated HU-HSA-3 clones with knockout of LDHA or LDHB to evaluate the effects of LDH perturbation. (R)-GNE-140 and sodium oxamate suppressed proliferation and reduced global histone lactylation levels in both cell lines. mRNA-sequencing (mRNA-seq) of (R)-GNE-140-treated HU-HSA-2 cells identified cholesterol/lipid metabolism-related gene sets among the top negatively enriched pathways. Representative cholesterol/lipid metabolism genes such as SREBF2, SQLE and LDLR responded differently depending on cell lines and inhibitors. (R)-GNE-140 decreased these genes in HU-HSA-2 but not HU-HSA-3, whereas sodium oxamate decreased them in HU-HSA-3 with limited effects in HU-HSA-2. In HU-HSA-3, LDHA and LDHB knockout clones decreased SREBP2 expression and reduced the number of lipid droplets. Fluvastatin, a cholesterol metabolism inhibitor, inhibited HSA cell growth in vitro but did not significantly suppress tumour growth in two HSA patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models. In contrast, combined fluvastatin and dipyridamole treatment inhibited proliferation in vitro and tumour growth in PDX models. Collectively, these results suggest a context-dependent association between LDH and cholesterol/lipid metabolism in canine HSA cell lines and provide a rationale for further evaluation of combined cholesterol pathway inhibition.</p>","PeriodicalId":23693,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary and comparative oncology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148707787","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"CT-Based Radiomic Features Predict Cervical Lymph Node Metastasis in Dogs With Oral Malignancy: A Machine Learning Study Using Leave-One-Patient-Out Cross-Validation.","authors":"Christopher J Pinard, Andrew Lagree, Ryan Appleby, Michelle Oblak, Kuan-Chuen Wu, William T Tran","doi":"10.1111/vco.70092","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/vco.70092","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Accurate preoperative identification of cervical lymph node (LN) metastasis is essential for staging and treatment planning in dogs with oral malignancy, yet conventional imaging offers limited diagnostic sensitivity. This retrospective study evaluated whether CT-derived radiomic features, combined with machine learning classifiers, could predict the metastatic status of mandibular and retropharyngeal LNs. Forty-nine dogs with histopathologically confirmed oral malignancy underwent contrast-enhanced CT, and four bilateral cervical LN sites were manually segmented on images resampled to 1.0 mm isotropic spacing, yielding 195 LN observations (18 metastatic, 9.2%). One hundred and seven radiomic features were extracted per LN using PyRadiomics, and variance filtering, Spearman redundancy removal (|ρ| > 0.95), and Mann-Whitney U testing with Benjamini-Hochberg correction were performed within each fold of leave-one-patient-out cross-validation (LOOCV) to eliminate selection-leakage bias. Logistic regression, random forest (RF), support vector machine, and XGBoost were trained with SMOTE applied within training folds only, and two endpoints were evaluated on the same out-of-fold predictions: per-LN (primary) and per-patient (secondary, via maximum-probability aggregation across the four sites). Confidence intervals were derived from 5000-iteration patient-level bootstrap, and sensitivity analyses included repeated StratifiedGroupKFold cross-validation and cluster-robust generalised estimating equation (GEE) inference. At the per-LN level, RF achieved an AUC of 0.649 (95% CI 0.474-0.831; sensitivity 0.444, specificity 0.898) and XGBoost an AUC of 0.631 (0.501-0.772; sensitivity 0.944, specificity 0.379). Patient-level aggregation yielded an RF AUC of 0.613 (0.431-0.786; 9/13 metastatic-positive dogs identified) and an XGBoost AUC of 0.485. Four GLSZM/GLCM texture features were selected in 92%-100% of LOOCV folds and remained significant under GEE (adjusted p ≤ 0.012). CT-derived texture features therefore carry a reproducible, biologically interpretable signal for cervical LN metastasis, but leakage-controlled performance is modest in this proof-of-concept study, and external validation in larger, multi-institutional cohorts is required before clinical translation.</p>","PeriodicalId":23693,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary and comparative oncology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148537221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Safety and Feasibility of Infusing Ex Vivo Expanded Allogeneic Canine Natural Killer Cells for the Treatment of Metastatic Solid Tumours.","authors":"Allison M Weisnicht, Fernanda Szewc, Monica Moonkyung Cho, Han-Yun Hannah Cheng, Swetha Ganesh, Lauren Mahoney, Kathryn Fox, Portia R Smith, Mallery Olsen, Rebecca M Richards, David M Vail, Christian M Capitini","doi":"10.1111/vco.70091","DOIUrl":"10.1111/vco.70091","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Companion canines need advances in therapeutic options for solid tumour malignancies. Natural killer (NK) cell infusions offer a promising treatment modality in canines with solid tumours. Autologous natural killer products are limited by dysfunctional immunity and a manufacturing process that delays care whereas allogeneic NK cells offer the possibility of 'off-the-shelf' therapy to be administered from healthy donors. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from healthy canine donors via density gradient separation. NK cells were expanded with recombinant human IL-2 and canine IL-21 with the addition of K562 feeder cells transfected with CD137 ligand and membrane bound human IL-15. Additional experiments included IL-12 during expansion. In vitro potency was assessed via co-culture with the D17-mKate2 canine osteosarcoma cell line. Three canines were enrolled in a phase 1 trial infusing ex vivo expanded allogeneic NK cells after lymphodepletion. Flow cytometric analysis confirmed successful expansion of canine NK cells with up to 50% of cells demonstrating NKp46+ after 14 days. Residual T cell numbers varied based on donor. The addition of IL-12 led to increased NK cell expansion. Incucyte demonstrated potency with increasing osteosarcoma cell death at higher effector to target ratios. Three canines with metastatic/refractory solid tumours were successfully lymphodepleted and infused with allogeneic NK cell products. The canines tolerated the infusions well. Canine allogeneic NK cells were successfully expanded and activated ex vivo, demonstrated potency in vitro and safety in vivo. Further studies will optimise the NK cell product and escalate dosing to reach the maximal tolerable dose.</p>","PeriodicalId":23693,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary and comparative oncology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13625068/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148473245","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping Identifies Variable Cervical Drainage and Metastatic Nodes Outside Traditional Sampling Sites in Canine Oromaxillofacial Tumours.","authors":"Emilia Chrostek, Jessica Lawrence, Boaz Arzi, Nikia Stewart, Stephanie Goldschmidt","doi":"10.1111/vco.70090","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/vco.70090","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sentinel lymph node mapping (SLNM) has emerged as a key technique to guide decisions regarding nodal extirpation in dogs with oromaxillofacial tumours. The primary aims of this retrospective study were to describe the clinical utility of indirect computed tomographic lymphangiography (ICTL) for SLNM in a large cohort of dogs, characterise variability in SLN drainage patterns by tumour location, and describe the distribution of metastatic lymph nodes (LNs) identified by SLNM guided cytology or pathology. SLN locations, cytology, and available histopathology were reported as descriptive data. ICTL data were evaluated for 77 oromaxillofacial tumours in 74 dogs. A median of 2 SLNs were identified per ICTL dataset with 92% having at least one SLN identified. The ipsilateral mandibular lymphocentrum was the most common drainage basin; however, contralateral or bilateral drainage was frequent, occurring in over 55% of rostral tumours. Lateralized tumours were associated with a higher frequency of ipsilateral mandibular SLN identification compared with non-lateralized tumours (p = 0.0009). Of 68 dogs with malignant tumours, 10 (15%) had LN metastasis. Metastasis occurred in the SLN (n = 8), outside the SLN (n = 1), and in one dog without any identifiable SLNs. In 4 dogs (40%), metastasis extended beyond the ipsilateral lateral MLN; 3 dogs had metastasis exclusively in the medial retropharyngeal LNs. Among dogs with paired cytology and pathology, the false-negative rate of SLN cytology was 6.9%, potentially offering a low-morbidity screening method prior to LN extirpation. Future studies should seek to evaluate how SLNM with guided LN sampling influences patient outcomes, given its clinical feasibility.</p>","PeriodicalId":23693,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary and comparative oncology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148424488","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparison of Aerosolised and Traditional Tumour Margin Inking: A Prospective Blinded Histopathological Review in Canine Skin Tumours.","authors":"Kaida L Wouters, Sam R Snelling, John M Morton, Simon Stokes","doi":"10.1111/vco.70089","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/vco.70089","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Inking of canine skin tumours facilitates histopathological margin assessment. While traditional dab application is standard practice, aerosolised (spray) application may offer practical advantages. The objective of this study was to determine if aerosolised ink application provides comparable margin coverage to traditional dab methods and to compare time of application and volume of ink used. A blinded, randomised study on 19 canine skin tumours was performed. Each tumour was sectioned into two halves and one half randomly assigned a method (dab or spray) and ink colour (black or blue) with the other half receiving the alternative method and colour. Margin coverage (percentage of margin covered by ink), application time and ink volume were measured. Spray application was non-inferior to dab with respect to margin coverage, with mean margin coverage estimated as being 0.25 to 0.41 percentage points greater and lower limits of 95% confidence intervals -0.72 and -0.35 percentage points, respectively. Spray application was estimated as being 38 s faster on average (p < 0.001) but used approximately 0.5 mL more ink (p < 0.001). These findings suggest that aerosolised inking provides comparable margin coverage while reducing application time; however, ink placement fidelity was not assessed, and further evaluation is warranted to confirm full clinical equivalence.</p>","PeriodicalId":23693,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary and comparative oncology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148413009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Surgery and Adjuvant Electrochemotherapy Compared to Surgery Alone for Treatment of Canine Incompletely Excised Soft Tissue Sarcomas.","authors":"Ramos Sofia, Macfarlane Michael, Polton Gerry, Gomez Fernandez Joana, Luís Ana Lúcia, Dias-Pereira Patrícia, Santos Andreia","doi":"10.1111/vco.70088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/vco.70088","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The predominant challenge in canine soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) is achieving local tumour control, for which surgical excision remains the standard treatment. When complete margins are not attainable, adjuvant therapy may be recommended. Electrochemotherapy (ECT) combines cytotoxic drugs with electric pulses to enhance drug uptake and antitumour efficacy and has shown promising results. However, its role in incompletely excised STSs remains unclear, with limited control-group studies to confirm its efficacy. This retrospective study compared recurrence rate and time to recurrence (TTR) between dogs with incompletely excised cutaneous or subcutaneous low and intermediate-grade STSs treated with surgery alone or with adjuvant ECT and assessed ECT-related toxicity. Medical records from one oncology centre were reviewed. Dogs were included if completely staged, non-metastatic, and had a minimum follow-up of 10 months. The ECT protocol consisted of two sessions, 2 weeks apart, with intravenous bleomycin followed by biphasic pulses using plate electrodes. Forty-three dogs met the inclusion criteria: 22 underwent surgery alone, and 21 surgery followed by adjuvant ECT. Recurrence occurred in 68.2% and 33.3% of cases, respectively. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed a significantly longer TTR in the ECT group (median not reached vs. 534 days; p = 0.044). Treatment was well tolerated, with mild transient local inflammation in 38% of dogs. These findings support ECT as a safe and promising adjuvant therapy for improving local tumour control in incompletely excised canine STSs.</p>","PeriodicalId":23693,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary and comparative oncology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148413136","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}