Immunohistochemical evaluation of HER2 expression in canine thyroid carcinoma

Sho Yoshimoto; Daiki Kato; Satoshi Kamoto; Kie Yamamoto; Masaya Tsuboi; Masahiro Shinada; Namiko Ikeda; Yuiko Tanaka; Ryohei Yoshitake; Shotaro Eto; Kohei Saeki; James Chambers; Ryohei Kinoshita; Kazuyuki Uchida; Ryohei Nishimura; Takayuki Nakagawa

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02004

Immunohistochemical evaluation of HER2 expression in canine thyroid carcinoma

Heliyon. 2019 Jul 17;5(7):e02004. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02004. eCollection 2019 Jul.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Veterinary Surgery, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1, Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan.
² Veterinary Medical Center, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1, Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan.
³ Laboratory of Veterinary Pathology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1, Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan.

Abstract

The human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is expressed in various human cancers including thyroid cancers (TC) and is used as a diagnostic marker and therapeutic target. Canine TC (cTC), the most common endocrine malignancy in dogs, shows a high metastasis rate, and HER2-targeted therapy could be a candidate for treatment. Here, we immunohistochemically evaluated HER2 expression in 21 paraffin-embedded cTC tissues and scored the degree of expression based on intensity and positivity (score: 0-3+). Four samples (19%) scored 3+; 6 (29%), 2+; 7 (33%), 1+; and 4 (19%), 0. Therefore, 48% of the cTC tissues were HER2 positive (scored ≥2+). These data may lead to further evaluation of the role of HER2 in cTC as a mechanism of malignancy and a therapeutic target.

Keywords: Cancer research; Canis familiaris; Oncogene protein HER-2; Oncology; Pathology; Thyroid cancer; Veterinary medicine.