Canine mammary epithelial neoplasms: biologic implications of morphologic characteristics assessed in 232 dogs

We studied 232 dogs that underwent mastectomy for mammary epithelial neoplasms. The mastectomy specimens were evaluated according to structural parameters found to be prognostically significant in human mammary neoplasms, such as grade of atypia in non-invasive proliferations of duct epithelium, extent of malignant disease, and nuclear differentiation in malignant neoplasms. In this study, the biologic behavior of mammary lesions was assessed according to the frequency of development of de novo or recurrent invasive carcinoma within two years. Our data indicate that we can recognize structural variables which permit classification of mammary neoplasms into categories with distinct patterns of biologic behavior. In addition to normotypic proliferative lesions and invasive malignant neoplasms, we were able to identify precancerous atypic and non-invasive malignant neoplasms that are considered precursor lesions in women. Also, as in women, nuclear differentiation was found to be a prognostically significant variable. Lymphoid cellular reactions, considered to be structural correlates of host-tumor immune responses in women, were noted in 35% of dogs with precancerous or malignant neoplasms. Application of the described parameters should facilitate comparative studies of canine and human mammary carcinogenesis and use of the dog as a model for the development of new therapeutic modalities and immunoprophylaxis of human mammary cancer.