Sialyl Lewis x expression in canine malignant mammary tumours: correlation with clinicopathological features and E-Cadherin expression

摘要

BackgroundSialyl Lewis x (sLe^x) antigen is a carbohydrate antigen that is considered not only a marker for cancer but also implicated functionally in the malignant behaviour of cancer cells. Overexpression of sLe^x is associated with enhanced progression and metastases of many types of cancer including those of the mammary gland. Canine mammary tumours can invade and give rise to metastases via either lymphatic or blood vessels.E-Cadherin is specifically involved in epithelial cell-to-cell adhesion. In cancer, E-Cadherin underexpression is one of the alterations that characterizes the invasive phenotype and is considered an invasion/tumour suppressor gene. Partial or complete loss of E-Cadherin expression correlates with poor prognosis in canine malignant mammary cancer.The aim of this study was to analyse the sLe^x expression in canine malignant mammary tumours and to evaluate if the presence of sLe^x correlates with the expression of E-Cadherin and with clinicopathological features.