Diagnostic immunohistochemistry of canine round cell tumors

Sixty-five canine skin neoplasms studied using immunocytochemistry, included 22 histiocytomas, 18 amelanotic melanomas, 14 cutaneous lymphosarcomas, six mast cell tumors, and five transmissible venereal tumors. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections were stained using the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex (ABC) immunoperoxidase technique for reactivity with S-100 protein, kappa and lambda immunoglobulin light chains, alpha-1-antitrypsin, alpha-1-antichymotrypsin, leukocyte common antigen (LCA), neuron-specific enolase, keratin, cytokeratin, muramidase, and vimentin. Detection of S-100, kappa and lambda light chains, neuron-specific enolase, and vimentin were most useful for screening these neoplasms. None of the markers examined was consistent in staining histiocytomas. While reactivity of S-100 (ten cases) and neuron-specific enolase (ten cases) was detected in some amelanotic melanomas, lambda light chain immunoglobulin (eight cases) was relatively consistent in cutaneous lymphomas. Mast cell neoplasms reacted with avidin and, therefore, were positive, even on negative control sections. Vimentin reacted strongly on all amelanotic melanomas and transmissible venereal tumors examined. These antibodies are helpful adjuncts in the differential diagnosis of canine skin tumors.

The distribution of C-bands in canine transmissible venereal tumor cells

Colchicine-arrested metaphase preparations, derived from canine transmissible venereal tumor (TVT) cells grown in culture, were characterized based on the occurrence and distribution of constitutive heterochromatin. Analysis of the data with regard to the distribution of C-bands in the pericentric, interstitial and telomeric segments revealed a nonrandom distribution along the arms of many chromosomes with the bulk of the bands occurring in the centromeric region. The frequency of C-banded regions differed from those reported for normal dog cells and both primary and transplanted tumors. These results suggest that similar nondifferentially-stained TVT karyotypes do not necessarily exhibit identical distribution of constitutive heterochromatin.