Hallmarks of cancer in canine mammary tumors: Insights into a potential model for human triple-negative breast cancer

Human breast cancer (HBC) is a complex disease with several molecular subtypes, posing challenges in diagnosis and treatment. Among these subtypes, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is particularly challenging due to the lack of targeted therapies and generally has a poorer prognosis than other molecular subtypes. Canine mammary carcinomas (CMCs) have been proposed as a spontaneous model of HBC and a suitable model for molecular subtypes. Notably, dogs exhibited a high prevalence of triple-negative subtypes compared to humans. This review explores the parallels between HBC and CMCs, with a special emphasis on triple-negative phenotype, through the lens of cancer hallmarks. Several similarities have been found between both species; however, challenges remain in understanding the full spectrum of cancer hallmarks in dogs and translating findings into effective therapies. The convergence of insights from the hallmarks of cancer and the unique attributes of CMCs model drives us toward future personalized medicine, offering new avenues for research in the field of comparative oncology.