Evaluation of tumour biomarkers associated with invasion, metastasis and immune escape in cats with exocrine pancreatic carcinoma

Guillén, Alexandra; Kropp, Kara; Rogato, Francesco; Yale, Andrew D.; Hetesy, Gabriella; Béguin, Jérémy; Erles, Kerstin; Priestnall, Simon L.; Reyes-Gomez, Edouard; Hardas, Alexandros

Abstract

In humans and cats, pancreatic carcinoma (PC) arising from the exocrine pancreas is considered an aggressive cancer associated with a poor prognosis due to its high metastatic rate. The aim of this retrospective multi-institutional study was to investigate tissue expression of biomarkers of tumour invasiveness, metastasis and immune escape in cats with PC. A secondary aim was to correlate the overall immunohistochemical scores (OISs) with histological characteristics, presence of metastasis and survival. Immunohistochemistry for COX-2, E-cadherin, CD44, c-KIT and PD-L1 was performed on 40 PC tissue samples. CD44 was expressed in all PCs with 27 (67 %) having a moderate to high OIS. PD-L1, E-cadherin, COX-2 and c-KIT expression was seen in 20 (50 %), 21 (52 %), 18 (45 %) and 14 (35 %) cases, respectively, with predominantly low OISs. Metastasis was present in 43 % of cats with a median survival time (MST) of 7 days (95 % CI 0–20; range, 1–1,094) and a 1-year survival rate of 13.8 %. When excluding cats that died or were euthanized at diagnosis, the MST was 19 days (95 % CI 0–99; range, 2–1,094). No statistical associations were found between COX-2, E-cadherin, PD-L1, CD44 or c-KIT OIS and histological subtype, necrosis, vascular invasion, mitotic count, presence of metastasis or survival. Positive E-cadherin expression was significantly associated with the presence of perineural invasion (P = 0.009; OR 1.50 [95 % CI 1.11–2.03]).

Citation

Guillén, A., Kropp, K., Rogato, F., Yale, A. D., Hetesy, G., Béguin, J., Erles, K., Priestnall, S. L., Reyes-Gomez, E., & Hardas, A. (2025). Evaluation of tumour biomarkers associated with invasion, metastasis and immune escape in cats with exocrine pancreatic carcinoma. Journal of Comparative Pathology, 220, 47-55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcpa.2025.05.009

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 31, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Jul 23, 2025
• Publication Date: 2025-07
• Deposit Date: Jul 23, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 24, 2025
• Journal: Journal of Comparative Pathology
• Print ISSN: 0021-9975
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 220
• Pages: 47-55
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcpa.2025.05.009
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Evaluation of tumour biomarkers associated with invasion, metastasis and immune escape in cats with exocrine pancreatic carcinoma; Journal Title: Journal of Comparative Pathology; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcpa.2025.05.009; Content Type: article; Copyright: Crown Copyright © 2025 Published by Elsevier Ltd.