J Vet Sci.  2021 Nov;22(6):e79. 10.4142/jvs.2021.22.e79.

Investigation of serum survivin in dogs suffering from cancer: a multicenter study

• Estaller A
• Kessler M
• Wehrend A
• Gessler F
• Hirschberger J
• Neumann S

• KMID: 2522891
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4142/jvs.2021.22.e79

Abstract

Background
In contrast to human medicine, only a small number of serum tumor markers are established in veterinary medicine even though they are a non-invasive diagnostic tool.
Objectives
This study examined whether survivin could be suitable as a potential canine serum tumor marker.
Methods
This study measured the serum survivin concentrations of dogs with mammary tumors (n = 33), squamous cell carcinoma (n = 9), soft-tissue sarcoma (n = 18) and multicentric lymphoma (n = 22), using a commercially available, competitive immunoassay kit (BlueGene). The serum survivin concentrations were compared with those of a healthy control group (n = 20) and a control group of dogs with non-neoplastic diseases (n = 17).
Results
Dogs with malignant tumors had serum survivin concentrations between 15 and 5,906 pg/mL (median, 72 pg/mL), those in the healthy group ranged from 7 to 99 pg/mL (median, 21 pg/mL) and those in the group of dogs suffering from non-neoplastic diseases from 15 to 93 pg/mL (median, 42 pg/mL). The differences in the survivin concentrations between the healthy dogs and dogs with malignant tumors and between the dogs with nonneoplastic diseases and those with malignant tumors were significant (p < 0.001 and p = 0.006, respectively).
Conclusions
The serum survivin concentrations in dogs with malignant tumors, with some exceptions, are higher than in dogs with benign tumors and dogs that do not suffer from a malignancy. Therefore, survivin can provide information on the presence of malignant tumors and be used as a tumor marker in dogs.

Keyword

Biomarker; dog; malignancy; serum; survivin