Apoptosis plays an important role in oncogenesis determining tumor growth and aggressiveness. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between apoptosis, diagnosis and prognosis in canine mammary tumors. Thirty bitches were submitted to tumor extirpation and a method of labeling apoptotic cells, that labels DNA fragments, by terminal deoxynucleotidyl-tranferase (TdT) mediated by 5' deoxy-uridine-triphosphate (dUTP) nick and labeling (TUNEL) was used. The apoptotic cells were counted in ten high power fields (10HPF). Statistical results showed that when there are more than 30 apoptotic cells/10HPF the prognosis is worse (p= 0,0005). Thus suggesting that apoptosis can be used as a prognostic marker in canine breast tumors.
Apoptosis; Prognosis; Breast cancer; Bitch
