Expression of E-cadherin, β-catenin and Ki-67 antigen and their reciprocal correlations in fibrosarcomas of soft tissues in dogs

Background: This study aimed at immunocytochemical demonstration of E-cadherin, beta-catenin and Ki-67 expressions and the examination of correlation between these markers in primary fibrosarcomas in dogs. Materials and Methods: Material for the study was sampled in the course of surgery from 24 mongrel dogs aged 5 to 16 years. The neoplastic tumors were subjected to histopathological verification and immunohistochemical reactions were performed to detect the studied markers. Microphotographs of the preparations were subjected to computer-assisted image analysis using the MultiScaneBase V 14.02 software. Results: Expression of P-catenin was detected in all tumours examined while E-cadherin was expressed in only 8.2%. Expression of the Ki-67 proliferation-associated antigen was noted in over 33% of the tumours. Conclusion: The lack of correlation (r = -0.1035) between expression of Ki-67 and that of beta-catenin detected here in contrast to the high values of Ki-67 antigen found as a prognostic factor in many other studies allowed us to conclude that the presence of beta-catenin in cells of soft tissue fibrosarcoma in dogs manifested no unequivocal relationship to augmented proliferative potential of neoplastic cells, although it did not exclude participation of the protein in the development of this neoplasia in dogs.