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Quantitative analysis of telomerase in feline mammary tissues

Correspondence: ¹Corresponding Author: Laura Fusaro, Department of Veterinary Public Health and Animal Pathology, Section of General Pathology and Pathologic Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bologna, Via Tolara di Sopra, 50-40064 Ozzano dell'Emilia, Bologna, Italy, e-mail: laura.fusaro2{at}unibo.it

The purpose of this study was to validate immunohistochemistry (IHC) as an alternative to telomerase repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) analysis to detect telomerase activity. TRAP–enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) reactivity was compared with telomerase reverse transcription (TERT) IHC staining in 22 feline mammary tissues (6 normal mammary glands, 2 dysplastic mammary glands, 1 fibroadenoma, and 13 malignant neoplasms [6 solid mammary carcinomas, 2 squamous-cell carcinomas, 4 tubulopapillary mammary carcinomas, and 1 mammary carcinosarcoma]). TERT IHC staining revealed enzymatic expression in nuclear, nucleolar, cytoplasmic, and combined nuclear and nucleolar staining patterns that were separately quantified by image analysis and expressed as the absolute number (average) of positive cells or percentage of positive cells with respect to overall cellularity. With TERT IHC staining, the absolute number and percentage of cells with positive nuclei and nucleoli within the same cell were the variables with the greatest discrimination between benign and malignant mammary lesions (analysis of variance [ANOVA], average P < 0.0001; percentage P < 0.001). For TRAP-ELISA–positive versus TRAP-ELISA–negative tissues, a positive test result provided greater differentiation between malignant versus benign mammary lesions (ANOVA, average P = 0.00038; percentage P = 0.0022). The same IHC pattern of expression showed a proportional and significant (average P = 0.004; percentage P = 0.002) but low (average R = 0.60; percentage R = 0.63) correlation with TRAP-ELISA by the Pearson test. The correlation coefficients obtained show that IHC and TRAP cannot be considered interchangeable because the 2 methods are more complementary than exclusive.

Key Words: Cats • mammary gland tissue • telomerase repeat amplification protocol–enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay • telomerase reverse transcription immunohistochemistry • tumors