Equine penile squamous cell carcinoma: expression of biomarker proteins and EcPV2

Sci Rep. 2020 May 12;10(1):7863. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-64014-3.

Abstract

Equine penile squamous cell carcinoma (EpSCC) is a relatively common cutaneous neoplasm with a poor prognosis. In this study, we aimed to determine the protein expression and colocalisation of FRA1, c-Myc, Cyclin D1, and MMP7 in normal (NT), tumour (T), hyperplastic epidermis and/or squamous papilloma (Hyp/Pap), poorly-differentiated (PDSCC), or well-differentiated (WDSCC) EpSCC using a tissue array approach. Further objectives were to correlate protein expression to (i) levels of inflammation, using a convolutional neural network (ii) equine papillomavirus 2 (EcPV2) infection, detected using PCR amplification. We found an increase in expression of FRA1 in EpSCC compared to NT samples. c-Myc expression was higher in Hyp/Pap and WDSCC but not PDSCC whereas MMP7 was reduced in WDSCC compared with NT. There was a significant increase in the global intersection coefficient (GIC) of FRA1 with MMP7, c-Myc, and Cyclin D1 in EpSCC. Conversely, GIC for MMP7 with c-Myc was reduced in EpSCC tissue. Inflammation was positively associated with EcPV2 infection in both NT and EpSCC but not Hyp/Pap. Changes in protein expression could be correlated with EcPV2 for Cyclin D1 and c-Myc. Our results evaluate novel biomarkers of EpSCC and a putative correlation between the expression of biomarkers, EcPV2 infection and inflammation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics*
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / metabolism
  • Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / diagnosis
  • Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / genetics*
  • Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / virology
  • Cyclin D1 / genetics
  • Cyclin D1 / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic*
  • Horses
  • Male
  • Matrix Metalloproteinase 7 / genetics
  • Matrix Metalloproteinase 7 / metabolism
  • Papillomaviridae / isolation & purification*
  • Papillomaviridae / physiology
  • Papillomavirus Infections / diagnosis
  • Papillomavirus Infections / genetics*
  • Papillomavirus Infections / virology
  • Penile Neoplasms / diagnosis
  • Penile Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Penile Neoplasms / virology
  • Protein Binding
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / genetics
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / metabolism
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / genetics
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / metabolism
  • ROC Curve
  • Tissue Array Analysis / methods

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc
  • fos-related antigen 1
  • Cyclin D1
  • Matrix Metalloproteinase 7