Expression of epidermal growth factor receptor and vascular endothelial growth factor in malignant canine epithelial nasal tumours.

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signalling pathways play a role in carcinogenesis. Inhibition of EGF receptor (EGFR) and of VEGF is effective in increasing the radiation responsiveness of neoplastic cells both in vitro and in human trials. In this study, immunohistochemical evaluation was employed to determine and characterize the potential protein expression levels and patterns of EGFR and VEGF in a variety of canine malignant epithelial nasal tumours. Of 24 malignant canine nasal tumours, 13 (54.2%) were positive for EGFR staining and 22 (91.7%) were positive for VEGF staining. The intensity and percentage of immunohistochemically positive neoplastic cells for EGFR varied. These findings indicate that EGFR and VEGF proteins were present in some malignant epithelial nasal tumours in the dogs, and therefore, it may be beneficial to treat canine patients with tumours that overexpress EGFR and VEGF with specific inhibitors in conjunction with radiation.

Comparison of isodose distributions in canine brain in heterogeneity-corrected versus uncorrected treatment plans using 6 MV photons.

Magnetic resonance (MR) images may be useful for radiation planning due to greater contrast resolution. One disadvantage of MR images for radiation planning is the inability to incorporate electron density information into the dose calculation algorithm. To assess the magnitude of this problem, we evaluated radiation dose distribution in canine brain by comparing computed tomography (CT)-based radiotherapy plans with and without electron density correction. Computerized radiotherapy plans were generated for 13 dogs with brain tumors using 6 MV photons. A tissue-contouring program was used to outline the gross tumor volume (GTV) and the planning target volume (PTV) for each patient. Two treatment plans were generated for each dog. First, the plan was optimized without heterogeneity correction. Then the heterogeneity correction was implemented without changing any other plan parameters. Isodose distributions and dose volume histograms (DVHs) were used to compare the two plans. The D95 (dose delivered to 95% of the volume) within the PTV was calculated for each treatment plan and differences in the D95s were compared. The mean D95s without and with heterogeneity correction were 49.1 +/- 0.7 and 48.9 +/- 1.0Gy, respectively. The absolute mean percent dose difference without and with heterogeneity correction was 1.0 - 0.9% (-1.3-3.2%) and was not considered to be clinically significant. We found no clinically significant difference between CT-based radiotherapy plans without and with heterogeneity correction for brain tumors in small animals, which supports the use of MR-based treatment planning for radiotherapy of small animal brain tumors.

Changes in tumour oxygenation during fractionated hyperthermia and radiation therapy in spontaneous canine sarcomas.

Tumour oxygenation was measured in seven canine soft tissue sarcomas being treated with a fractionated course of radiation and hyperthermia. Measurements obtained during treatment were compared to pre-treatment measurements. The most important finding was an increase in oxygenation in tumours with low pre-treatment oxygenation that persisted throughout treatment. This is an advantageous hyperthermia effect as it may lead to increased radiation cell killing at each fraction. In other tumours, potentially less advantageous changes in oxygenation may be hyperthermia fractionation related and this deserves further investigation.