Identification of hepatic stem/progenitor cells in canine hepatocellular and cholangiocellular carcinoma |
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| Authors: | B Cogliati T P A Aloia R V Bosch V A F Alves F J Hernandez‐Blazquez M L Z Dagli |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil;2. Department of Surgery, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil;3. Department of Pathology, LIM 14, School of Medicine, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil |
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| Abstract: | Hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) are bipotential stem cells residing in human and animal livers that are able to differentiate towards the hepatocytic or cholangiocytic lineages. HPCs are present in both hepatocellular (HCC) and cholangiocellular carcinoma (CC) in humans; and a small percentage of HCC can originate from cancer stem cells. However, its distribution in canine liver tumour has not been studied. Herein, we searched for stem/progenitor cells in 13 HCC and 7 CC archived samples by immunohistochemical analysis. We found that both liver tumours presented a higher amount of K19‐positive HPCs. Besides, 61.6% of HCC cases presented immature CD44‐positive hepatocytes. Nevertheless, only two cases presented CD133‐positive cells. As observed in humans, hepatic canine tumours presented activated HPCs, with important differentiation onto hepatocytes‐like cells and minimal role of cancer stem cells on HCC. These findings reiterate the applicability of canine model in the search for new therapies before application in humans. |
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| Keywords: | cancer stem cells cholangiocellular carcinoma comparative hepatology hepatic progenitor cells hepatocellular carcinoma tumour biology |
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