Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Armando, Federico
• Porcellato, Ilaria
• de Paolis, Livia
• Mecocci, Samanta
• Passeri, Benedetta
• Ciurkiewicz, Małgorzata
• Mechelli, Luca
• Grazia De Ciucis, Chiara
• Pezzolato, Marzia
• Fruscione, Floriana
• Brachelente, Chiara
• Montemurro, Vittoria
• Cappelli, Katia
• Puff, Christina
• Baumgärtner, Wolfgang
• Ghelardi, Alessandro
• Razzuoli, Elisabetta

Titel

Vulvo-vaginal epithelial tumors in mares: A preliminary investigation on epithelial-mesenchymal transition and tumor-immune microenvironment

Ist Teil von

• Veterinary pathology, 2024-05, Vol.61 (3), p.366-381

Ort / Verlag

United States

Erscheinungsjahr

2024

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Vulvo-vaginal epithelial tumors are uncommon in mares, and data on the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the tumor-immune microenvironment (TIME) are still lacking. This is a study investigating the equus caballus papillomavirus type 2 (EcPV2) infection state as well as the EMT process and the tumor microenvironment in vulvo-vaginal preneoplastic/ benign (8/22) or malignant (14/22) epithelial lesions in mares. To do this, histopathological, immunohistochemical, transcriptomic, hybridization, and correlation analyses were carried out. Immunohistochemistry quantification showed that cytoplasmic E-cadherin and β-catenin expression as well as nuclear β-catenin expression were features of malignant lesions, while benign/preneoplastic lesions were mainly characterized by membranous E-cadherin and β-catenin expression. Despite this, there were no differences between benign and malignant equine vulvo-vaginal lesions in the expression of downstream genes involved in the canonical and noncanonical wnt/β-catenin pathways. In addition, malignant lesions were characterized by a lower number of cells with cytoplasmic cytokeratin expression as well as a slightly higher cytoplasmic vimentin immunolabeling. The TIME of malignant lesions was characterized by more numerous CD204 M2-polarized macrophages. Altogether, our results support the hypothesis that some actors in TIME such as CD204 M2-polarized macrophages may favor the EMT process in equine vulvo-vaginal malignant lesions providing new insights for future investigations in the field of equine EcPV2-induced genital neoplastic lesions.