KRAS Mutations in Canine and Feline Pancreatic Acinar Cell Carcinoma

Companion animals may serve as valuable models for studying human cancers. Although KRAS is the most commonly mutated gene in human ductal pancreatic cancers (57%), with mutations frequently occurring at codons 12, 13 and 61, human pancreatic acinar cell carcinomas (ACCs) lack activating KRAS mutations. In the present study, 32 pancreatic ACC samples obtained from 14 dogs and 18 cats, including seven metastases, were analyzed for six common activating KRAS mutations located in codons 12 (n = 5) and 13 (n = 1) using Sequenom MassARRAY. No KRAS mutations were found, suggesting that, similar to human pancreatic ACC, KRAS mutations do not play a critical role in feline or canine pancreatic ACC. Due to the similarity of the clinical disease in dogs and cats to that of man, this study confirms that companion animals offer potential as a suitable model for investigating this rare subtype of pancreatic carcinoma.