Immunohistochemical evaluation of HER2 expression in canine thyroid carcinoma

• Main Authors: Sho Yoshimoto, Daiki Kato, Satoshi Kamoto, Kie Yamamoto, Masaya Tsuboi, Masahiro Shinada, Namiko Ikeda, Yuiko Tanaka, Ryohei Yoshitake, Shotaro Eto, Kohei Saeki, James Chambers, Ryohei Kinoshita, Kazuyuki Uchida, Ryohei Nishimura, Takayuki Nakagawa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2019-07-01
• Series: Heliyon
• Subjects: Cancer research; Veterinary medicine; Pathology; Oncology; Thyroid cancer; Canis familiaris
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844019356506
• ISSN: 2405-8440

The human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is expressed in various human cancers including thyroid cancers (TC) and is used as a diagnostic marker and therapeutic target. Canine TC (cTC), the most common endocrine malignancy in dogs, shows a high metastasis rate, and HER2-targeted therapy could be a candidate for treatment. Here, we immunohistochemically evaluated HER2 expression in 21 paraffin-embedded cTC tissues and scored the degree of expression based on intensity and positivity (score: 0–3+). Four samples (19%) scored 3+; 6 (29%), 2+; 7 (33%), 1+; and 4 (19%), 0. Therefore, 48% of the cTC tissues were HER2 positive (scored ≥2+). These data may lead to further evaluation of the role of HER2 in cTC as a mechanism of malignancy and a therapeutic target.