Characterizing the molecular and immune landscape of canine bladder cancer

Transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), also known as urothelial carcinoma, is the most common bladder cancer in humans and dogs. Approximately one-quarter of human TCCs are muscle-invasive and associated with a high risk of death from metastasis. Canine TCC (cTCC) tumours are typically high-grade and muscle-invasive. Shared similarities in risk factors, histopathology, and clinical presentation suggest that cTCC may serve as a model for the assessment of novel therapeutics that may inform therapies for human muscle-invasive TCC. The goal of this study was to characterize cTCC at the molecular level to identify drivers of oncogenesis and druggable targets. We performed whole exome sequencing (WES) of 11 cTCC tumours and three matched normal samples, identifying 583 variants in protein-coding genes. The most common variant was a V-to-E missense mutation in BRAF, identified in 4 out of 11 samples (36%) via WES. Sanger sequencing identified BRAF variants in 8 out of the same 11 cTCC samples, as well as in 22 out of 32 formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) cTCC samples, suggesting an overall prevalence of 70%. RNA-Seq was performed to compare the gene expression profiles of cTCC tumours to normal bladder tissue. cTCC tumours exhibited up-regulation of genes involved in the cell cycle, DNA repair, and antiviral immunity. We also analysed the immune landscape of cTCC using immune gene signatures and immunohistochemical analysis. A subset of tumours had characteristics of a hot tumour microenvironment and exhibited high expression of signatures associated with complete response to PD-1/PD-L1 blockade in human bladder cancer.