Transmissible venereal tumour with encephalic metastasis in dogs

Erick P F Souto; Daniel R Rissi; Artefio M Oliveira; Dlean S Garcia; Rinaldo A Mota; Almir P de Souza; Glauco J N Galiza; Antônio F M Dantas

doi:10.1016/j.jcpa.2024.11.004

Transmissible venereal tumour with encephalic metastasis in dogs

J Comp Pathol. 2024 Dec 14:216:25-32. doi: 10.1016/j.jcpa.2024.11.004. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Erick P F Souto¹, Daniel R Rissi², Artefio M Oliveira³, Dlean S Garcia³, Rinaldo A Mota⁴, Almir P de Souza³, Glauco J N Galiza³, Antônio F M Dantas³

Affiliations

¹ Postdoctoral Research Internship, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil; Postgraduate Program in Animal Science and Health, Federal University of Campina Grande, Patos, Paraíba, Brazil; Laboratory of Animal Pathology, Federal Rural University of the Semi-Arid Region, Mossoro, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Electronic address: erick.platini@ufersa.edu.br.
² Athens Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Department of Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA.
³ Postgraduate Program in Animal Science and Health, Federal University of Campina Grande, Patos, Paraíba, Brazil.
⁴ Postdoctoral Research Internship, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil.

PMID: 39675186
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcpa.2024.11.004

Abstract

From January 2000 to December 2023 the Laboratory of Animal Pathology of the Federal University of Campina Grande received 6,218 canine autopsy and biopsy submissions, with six (0.09%) autopsy cases diagnosed as transmissible venereal tumour (TVT) with encephalic metastases. The mean age of affected dogs (four females and two males) was 7 years. Dogs were all from urban areas and were either semidomiciled (four cases) or stray (two cases). Clinical findings consisted of multilobular, ulcerated masses affecting the genital area (five cases) or skin (one case). Neurological signs were reported in three cases and included lethargy, seizures and ataxia. Grossly, encephalic metastases were subdural and extraparenchymal and affected the telencephalic hemispheres (four cases) or the base of the brain (two cases). In all cases, histology revealed a round cell neoplasm arranged in sheets supported by a scant fibrovascular stroma. In the brain, tumours often compressed and occasionally infiltrated the surrounding neuroparenchyma. Neoplastic cells had immunolabelling for vimentin, CD45RA, Iba1 and lysozyme, and no immunolabelling for MHC class II, CD117, CD3, CD79 and MUM1. Encephalic metastases of TVT should be included in the differential diagnosis of nervous system diseases of dogs in endemic areas where TVT is diagnosed in genital or extragenital tissues.

Keywords: brain metastasis; canine disease; contagious neoplasm; genital; metastasis; neoplasia; transmissible venereal tumour.