Determination of hypoxia, angiogenesis and tumour microenvironment in feline mammary tumours by immunohistochemical and histopathological methods

This study used immunohistochemical method to investigate the relationship between the tumor microenvironment, hypoxia, and angiogenesis in biopsy samples of feline mammary tumors brought to Selcuk University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Bornova Veterinary Control Institute between 2015 and 2019. The staining of paraffin tissue sections was performed with CD31, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1a) CD68, and CD163 antibodies, and their correlation with each other and the observed histopathological changes was explored. The study used mature mammary tissue samples from 12 cats of different breeds and ages for diagnostic purposes. The examined biopsy materials with microvessel density (MVD), VEGF, HIF-1a, CD68, and CD163 antibodies showed no significant relationship between benign and malignant tumors (p>0.05). Furthermore, the study found no significant relationship between malignant tumors and their histological grade, tumor size, mitotic score, lenfovascular invasion (LVI), and necrosis features (p>0.05). It is believed that the low number of materials used in the study prevented the detection of a statistically significant difference between the IHC results of tumors and their histopathological and clinicopathological features. The study concluded that presenting the data would be appropriate to contribute to the fields of veterinary medicine and veterinary oncology.