Prognostic clinical and histopathological features of canine cutaneous epitheliotropic T-cell lymphoma

Abstract

Canine cutaneous epitheliotropic T-cell lymphoma is a neoplasm with heterogeneous clinical and histopathological presentations. Survival times and responses to therapy are variable, and indicators to predict outcomes are lacking. Clinical and histopathological parameters from 176 archival cases from the University of Pennsylvania and University of Bern (2012–2018) were investigated for associations with clinical outcomes. Histopathological evaluation used digitized whole slide images and QuPath software. Cases included 107 female and 69 male dogs from 48 breeds, with a mean age of 10.4 years. Most common clinical signs were erythema ( n = 131), crusting ( n = 108), and scaling ( n = 102). Affected sites were haired skin ( n = 159), lip ( n = 74), nasal planum ( n = 49), and paw pads ( n = 48). The median survival time (MST) was 95 days (1–850). Dogs had 4.26-fold and 2.82-fold longer MST when treated with chemotherapy and prednisone, respectively, than when receiving supportive care. Haired skin involvement (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.039, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.180–3.523), erosions/ulcers (HR: 1.871, 95% CI: 1.373–2.548), nodules (HR: 1.496, 95% CI: 1.056–2.118), and crusting (HR: 1.454, 95% CI: 1.061–1.994) were clinical parameters predicting poor outcomes, whereas complete posttherapeutic clinical remission (HR: 0.469, 95% CI: 0.324–0.680) and a stable disease (HR: 0.323, 95% CI: 0.229–0.456) were associated with longer survival. Histopathological features associated with the increased risk of death were extensive infiltration of the panniculus (HR: 2.865, 95% CI: 1.565-4.809), mitotic count ≥7/high-power field (HR: 3.027, 95% CI: 2.065–4.439), cell diameter ≥10.0 µm (HR: 2.078, 95% CI: 1.281–3.372), and nuclear diameter ≥8.3 µm (HR: 3.787, 95% CI: 1.647–8.707).