Expression of E‐cadherin in Canine Anal Sac Apocrine Gland Adenocarcinoma and its Association with Survival

Introduction:  Inverse associations have been shown between E‐cadherin expression and degree of differentiation in canine mammary tumours and with the acquisition of malignancy in human epithelial cancers. The purpose of this study was to examine whether there was an association between prognosis, and the distribution or intensity of immunohistochemical staining for E‐cadherin in anal sac adenocarcinoma.
Methods:  Formalin‐fixed paraffin‐wax embedded canine anal sac adenocarcinoma specimens were obtained for 36 patients for whom clinical data, including survival statistics, were available. Canine mammary adenoma tissue was employed as the positive and negative controls with antibody diluent replacing the primary antibody in the latter. Samples were scored according to proportion of cells showing positive cytoplasmic membranous staining, intensity of cytoplasmic membranous staining and proportion of nuclei staining. As quality control, a sample of 10 slides was randomly selected for repeat evaluation; results exactly matched those obtained in the first assessment.
Results:  All anal sac adenocarcinoma cells expressed E‐cadherin to varying degrees. There was no evidence of an association between survival time and the intensity of staining or the proportion of nuclei staining. Patients whose tumours exhibited >75% positive cytoplasmic membranous staining survived significantly longer than those exhibiting <75% staining with median survival times of 1100 and 479 days respectively (log rank test: χ² = 3.89, 1 DF, p = 0.049).
Conclusion:  Immunohistochemical evaluation of the proportion of cells in anal sac adenocarcinoma samples exhibiting positive cytoplasmic membranous staining for E‐cadherin may allow improved determination of prognoses and could aid clinical decision making.