| Abstract: | Transitional cell carcinoma(TCC), a urinary bladder tumor with high mortality, is encountered commonly in dogs.Whereas overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is associated withdevelopment of human urinary bladder cancer, information on EGFR expression in canine TCCis lacking. In this study, EGFR protein and mRNA expression in canine normal bladder(n=5), polypoid cystitis (n=5) and TCC (n=25) were examined by immunohistochemistry andreal-time polymerase chain reaction. EGFR protein expression was significantly higher inTCC than that in normal healthy bladder (P<0.001) and polypoidcystitis (P<0.005). High EGFR protein expression was significantly(P<0.01) associated with TCC with a sensitivity of 72% andspecificity of 100%. Comparative analysis of protein and mRNA expression levels in TCCshowed significant positive correlation (r=0.88, P<0.05) between mRNAand protein expression. These findings suggest that intense expression of EGFR proteincould be used as a marker to help canine TCC diagnosis. |
