Development of Molecular Cytogenetic Resources for the Dog and Application to the Study of the Comparative Pathology of Canine Myeloid Neoplasms

摘要

Cancer occurs when the normal cell cycle control mechanisms become defective, resulting in uncontrollable cellular growth. Within each cell the genome is organized into a series of chromosomes, nature's biological filing cabinets. In human cancer studies, it has been established that almost all forms of human cancer are associated with non-random 'shuffling' of the genome in the form of both structural and numerical chromosome rearrangements. Many of these recurrent chromosome aberrations have been significantly associated with specific histopathological or immunological subgroups and also with response to therapy. In many cases, these associations are now widely used as important diagnostic and prognostic aides during the evaluation of human cancers and have led to improved clinical management. Patients presenting with cytogenetic changes associated with a good prognosis have been spared unnecessary treatment and, conversely, for cases presenting with a cytogenetic abnormality indicative of a poorprognosis, more intensive treatment has improved the outcome of these patients. The World Health Organization recognizes that genetic abnormalities are one of the most reliable criteria for the classification of tumors and has stressed the importance of further research into this area.