Morpho/Proteomic Comparative between High Grade Pleomorphic Sarcoma and Metastasis Diagnosed in an Old Captive Common Hippo

Old age is a risk factor for cancer development in humans and animals, and studies have shown that tumors in animals are acceptable models for studying human cancers, considering the similarities between their factors. This work was conducted in a 53-year-old captive female common hippo (Hippopotamus amphibious) with a left leg tumor and metastatic mass. Histopathological and immunohistochemical analyses were carried out with a final diagnosis of a high grade pleomorphic sarcoma. A proteomic study using mass spectrometry was added in order to identify further aspects of the primary tumor and metastasis which could improve our understanding, and each tissue showed a proteomic profile indicative of its pathologic state with significant differences between healthy tissue, primary and metastatic tumors. Low levels of β-actin in primary tumors were identified, and this may be associated with a possible consequence of cytoskeleton dynamic modification. In metastatic tissue, these dynamics may be affected by the presence of HSP chaperone 60.

衰老是人类与动物癌症发生的风险因素，已有研究表明，鉴于二者癌症相关因素的相似性，动物肿瘤可作为研究人类癌症的可行模型。本研究针对1只53岁的圈养雌性普通河马（Hippopotamus amphibious）展开，该个体左侧腿部存在肿瘤并伴转移肿块。研究人员通过组织病理学与免疫组织化学分析，最终确诊为高级别多形性肉瘤。为进一步明确原发肿瘤与转移灶的相关特征以加深研究认知，本研究辅以质谱技术开展蛋白质组学分析，结果显示各组织均呈现与其病理状态相符的蛋白质组学特征，且健康组织、原发肿瘤与转移瘤之间存在显著差异。研究发现原发肿瘤中β-肌动蛋白（β-actin）表达水平偏低，这可能与细胞骨架动态修饰存在关联；而在转移组织中，这类动态变化或受热休克蛋白（HSP）伴侣蛋白60的影响。