Warburg effect in queens with mammary tumors

• Autor(a) principal: de Almeida, Melissa Isabelle Martinho
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/24308
• topic: Biomarkers;; Feline;; Fructosamine;; Glucose; Lactate;; Lactate dehydrogenase; Mammary tumors;; Warburg effect; Biomarcadores,; Efeito Warburg; Felino,; Fructosamina; Glucose,; Lactato; Lactato desidrogenase,; Tumores mamários

Over the last years, pets’ life expectancy increased, and neoplasm became a leading cause of death. Mammary tumors are among the most frequent neoplasias in felines. The use of tissue and serum biomarkers provides important prognostic information in malignant tumors; however, information concerning serum biomarkers in feline mammary tumors (FMT) is scarce. The Warburg effect was discovered almost 100 years ago, and describes the use of anaerobic glycolysis by cancer cells as the preferred pathway to obtain energy, even in normoxemia conditions. Clinically, this behavior of tumor cells could be characterized by hypoglycemia and hyperlactatemia. The Warburg effect has been reported in several oncological diseases in human medicine, and to a lesser extent, also in veterinary oncology. However, to our best knowledge, the Warburg effect has not been assessed in feline mammary tumors. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the Warburg effect in queens with mammary tumors. For that purpose, serum concentrations of glucose, fructosamine, lactate and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were determined in 30 queens with malignant mammary tumors, in six cats with benign mammary lesions, and in 10 healthy control queens. No significant differences in concentrations of glucose or fructosamine were observed between the three groups of animals evaluated. Serum LDH was significantly higher in queens with malignant mammary tumors than in healthy controls (P=0.04). Serum lactate was higher in cats with malignant tumors when compared with controls, but the difference was not significant (P=0.09). Our results suggest that the Warburg effect might be implicated in carcinogenesis of feline spontaneous malignant mammary tumors. Although a typical Warburg effect was not observed in our study, since no significant changes in serum glucose or fructosamine concentrations were observed in queens with mammary tumors; significant increases in serum concentrations of LDH, and a tendency to increase in lactate concentrations were observed in queens with malignant mammary tumors. Further studies, with a higher number of animals and with a prospective nature should be conducted in order to evaluate the clinical significance of the Warburg effect in feline mammary tumors. Moreover, future research should evaluate the changes in glucose metabolism as a therapeutic target in feline mammary cancer.