RESUMO
The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) plays an important role in cellular functions, including growth and metabolism. Recently, mTOR and the activated phosphorylated form of mTOR (p-mTOR) have been reported as potential prognostic markers in many human tumours. However, there are few studies on its activation in canine tumours. We investigated the expression of p-mTOR in 17 canine skin tumours (CSTs), of which 58.8% were epithelial and melanocytic and 41.2% were mesenchymal tumours. Seventy-six per cent of the CSTs had high or moderate expression of p-mTOR. Mean p-mTOR expression in the epithelial and melanocytic tumours (5.7 ± 0.56) was significantly higher (P <0.05) than that of the mesenchymal tumours (3.14 ± 0.55). The age of the animals had no influence on p-mTOR expression. These findings suggest that activation of m-TOR is important in the development of skin tumours in dogs and the study might form the basis for further research on utilizing m-TOR inhibitors as improved therapeutic modalities in canine skin tumours.
