Polycythemia and inappropriate erythropoietin concentrations in two dogs with renal T-cell lymphoma

Two dogs presented with suspected renal disease and polycythemia. Abdominal ultrasound examinations performed on both dogs revealed coalescing masses causing bilateral renomegaly. Serum erythropoietin (EPO) concentrations were physiologically inappropriate. Postmortem examinations revealed renal T-cell lymphoma in both dogs. One of the two dogs also had involvement of the liver and mesentery. EPO-immunohistochemistry on tissue samples demonstrated positive staining in tumor cells and occasional normal renal cells. This report illustrates that paraneoplastic EPO production may induce polycythemia. The pattern of EPO-immunohistochemistry staining suggested that the mechanism of production was due to tumor production of EPO and local hypoxia-induced EPO production from compression of normal renal cells and vasculature.