Project description:BackgroundThe canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT) is a contagious cancer spread by the direct transfer of living cancer cells. CTVT usually spreads during mating, manifesting as genital tumours. However, oronasal CTVT is also occasionally observed, and presumably arises through oronasal contact with genital CTVT tumours during sniffing and licking.MethodsGiven that sniffing and licking transmission behaviours may differ between sexes, we investigated whether oronasal CTVT shows sex disparity.ResultsTwenty-seven of 32 (84%) primary oronasal tumours in a CTVT tumour database occurred in males. In addition, 53 of 65 (82%) primary oronasal CTVT tumours reported in the published literature involved male hosts. These findings suggest that male dogs are at four to five times greater risk of developing primary oronasal CTVT than females. This disparity may be due to sex differences in licking and sniffing activity, perhaps also influenced by sex differences in CTVT accessibility for these behaviours.ConclusionAlthough oronasal CTVT is rare, it should be considered as a possible diagnosis for oronasal tumours, particularly in male dogs.
Project description:To assess expression of mtDNA genes in the canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT), biopsy tissue samples from 33 CTVT cases were subjected to total RNA extraction, and stranded RNA sequencing libraries generated with the Ribo-Zero ribosomal RNA removal kit (insert size 100–300 bp) were sequenced using 75-bp paired-end sequencing reads on an Illumina HiSeq4000 instrument. Gene transcript abundance was quantified using the Salmon software (v0.8.2).
Project description:BackgroundThe canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT) is a contagious cancer that is naturally transmitted between dogs by the allogeneic transfer of living cancer cells during coitus. CTVT first arose several thousand years ago and has been reported in dog populations worldwide; however, its precise distribution patterns and prevalence remain unclear.ResultsWe analysed historical literature and obtained CTVT prevalence information from 645 veterinarians and animal health workers in 109 countries in order to estimate CTVT's former and current global distribution and prevalence. This analysis confirmed that CTVT is endemic in at least 90 countries worldwide across all inhabited continents. CTVT is estimated to be present at a prevalence of one percent or more in dogs in at least 13 countries in South and Central America as well as in at least 11 countries in Africa and 8 countries in Asia. In the United States and Australia, CTVT was reported to be endemic only in remote indigenous communities. Comparison of current and historical reports of CTVT indicated that its prevalence has declined in Northern Europe, possibly due to changes in dog control laws during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Analysis of factors influencing CTVT prevalence showed that presence of free-roaming dogs was associated with increased CTVT prevalence, while dog spaying and neutering were associated with reduced CTVT prevalence. Our analysis indicated no gender bias for CTVT and we found no evidence that animals with CTVT frequently harbour concurrent infectious diseases. Vincristine was widely reported to be the most effective therapy for CTVT.ConclusionsOur results provide a survey of the current global distribution of CTVT, confirming that CTVT is endemic in at least 90 countries worldwide. Additionally, our analysis highlights factors that continue to modify CTVT's prevalence around the world and implicates free-roaming dogs as a reservoir for the disease. Our analysis also documents the disappearance of the disease from the United Kingdom during the twentieth century, which appears to have been an unintentional result of the introduction of dog control policies.
Project description:The canine transmissible veneral tumour (CTVT) is one of the few known clonally transmissible cancers in nature. CTVT regresses spontaneously or after a single treatment with vincristine, however we know little of the mechanisms. To understand CTVT regression, we performed methylome analyses on serial biopsies of regressing and non-regressing CTVT, aiming to identify the likely drivers of CTVT regression.
Project description:BackgroundCanine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT) is a naturally occurring neoplasia affecting dogs worldwide. Previous CTVT studies in Grenada were limited to case records of dogs with neoplastic conditions at a veterinary diagnostic laboratory.ObjectivesThe present retrospective study aimed to determine the occurrence and risk factors of CTVT in a wider population of owned dogs presented to a university-affiliated veterinary hospital between 2008 and 2018.MethodsData on the age, breed, gender, and gonadectomy status were retrieved from an electronic database and analyzed using logistic regression.ResultsOf the 7180 dogs presented during the period, 102 dogs (1.4%) were diagnosed with CTVT. A higher predisposition was observed in Grenadian pothounds (odds ratio [OR] = 22.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 10.3-50.4; p < 0.001) and mixed-breed dogs (OR = 9.2, 95% CI 4.1-20.7; p < 0.001) in comparison to the purebreds. Neutered dogs (OR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.4-3.3; p < 0.001) were at an increased risk of CTVT than intact dogs. Age and gender were not identified as significant risk factors.ConclusionsThe percentage of dogs with CTVT in this study represents a crude estimate of the CTVT prevalence in the owned dog population in Grenada. Further studies including both owned and free-roaming dogs are required for a more accurate estimation of the CTVT prevalence in the region. Our results indicate that breed and gonadectomy status are significant risk factors for the occurrence of CTVT in Grenada.
Project description:Using HiRIEF LC-MS/MS, we analysed 10 GBM tumour tissue samples ran in one TMT10 set. The set consisted of 7 primary tumours and 3 non-matched recurrent tumours. One primary tumour was highly necrotic.
Project description:Microarrays were used to assess differences between 1) human tumours that did and did not engraft, 2) human tumours and their matched primary xenografts, 3) early and late passage primary xenografts and 4) small and large primary xenografts for a series of esophageal patient and primary xenograft tumours
Project description:In this study, the proteins found in extracellular vesicles of different cells relevant in canine mammary tumours (CMTs) research were investigated to identify CMT subtype specific proteome signatures.
Project description:BackgroundCanine transmissible venereal tumours (CTVTs) can cross the major histocompatibility complex barrier to spread among dogs. In addition to the transmissibility within canids, CTVTs are also known as a suitable model for investigating the tumour-host immunity interaction because dogs live with humans and experience the same environmental risk factors for tumourigenesis. Moreover, outbred dogs are more appropriate than inbred mice models for simulating the diversity of human cancer development. This study built a new model of CTVTs, known as MCTVTs, to further probe the shaping effects of immune stress on tumour development. For xenotransplantation, CTVTs were first injected and developed in immunodeficient mice (NOD.CB17-Prkdcscid/NcrCrl), defined as XCTVTs. The XCTVTs harvested from NOD/SCID mice were then inoculated and grown in beagles and named mouse xenotransplantation of CTVTs (MCTVTs).ResultsAfter the inoculation of CTVTs and MCTVTs into immune-competent beagle dogs separately, MCTVTs grew faster and metastasized more frequently than CTVTs did. Gene expression profiles in CTVTs and MCTVTs were analysed by cDNA microarray to reveal that MCTVTs expressed many tumour-promoting genes involved in chronic inflammation, chemotaxis, extracellular space modification, NF-kappa B pathways, and focal adhesion. Furthermore, several well-known tumour-associated biomarkers which could predict tumour progression were overexpressed in MCTVTs.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that defective host immunity can result in gene instability and enable transcriptome reprogramming within tumour cells. Fast tumour growth in beagle dogs and overexpression of tumour-associated biomarkers were found in a CTVT strain previously established in immunodeficient mice. In addition, dysregulated interaction of chronic inflammation, chemotaxis, and extracellular space modification were revealed to imply the possibly exacerbating mechanisms in the microenvironments of these tumours. In summary, this study offers a potential method to facilitate tumour progression and provide a niche for discovering tumour-associated biomarkers in cancer research.