Angiogenesis-related microRNAs and signalling pathways in canine mammary tumours.

Authors

Jessica Maria Abbate, Domenico Giosa, Maral Anjomanibenisi, Francesca Arfuso, Alessia Giannetto, Anna Paola Capra, Kristian Riolo, Giovanni Lanteri, Barbara Brunetti

Published in

Veterinary journal (London, England : 1997). Pages 106767. Jul 04, 2026. Epub Jul 04, 2026.

Abstract

Angiogenesis, a hallmark of cancer, supports tumour growth and metastasis by establishing an abnormal vascular network, and microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate this process post-transcriptionally. Because evidence in canine mammary tumours (CMTs) remains limited, we profiled 24 putative pro- and anti-angiogenic miRNAs by RT-qPCR in benign and malignant CMTs compared with normal mammary glands, and we predicted angiogenesis-related targets using multiMiR followed by Gene Ontology and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses. Intratumoral angiogenesis was quantified as microvascular density (MVD) and endothelial area (EA) on Factor VIII-immunolabeled sections using QuPath. MVD and EA were higher in malignant than in benign CMTs and peaked in grade III carcinomas. Malignant CMTs showed a progressive shift towards a pro-angiogenic miRNA profile, with significant upregulation of pro-angiogenic miR-9, miR-20a, miR-98, miR-210, and miR-21(p < 0.05). Conversely, anti-angiogenic miRNA displayed a heterogenous, context-dependent expression pattern: miR-152-3p and miR-542-3p were downregulated in benign CMTs relative to normal mammary tissue, whereas miR-205 and miR-34a were upregulated in malignant CMTs (p < 0.05). In malignant CMTs, MVD correlated with EA (r = 0.8, p = 0.0003), EA correlated with miR-98 (r = 0.67, p = 0.006), and tumour size correlated with miR-210 (r = 0.58, p = 0.03). In benign tumours, EA correlated with miR-497 (r = 0.81, p = 0.02). Target prediction identified 16,910 genes, with pro- and anti-angiogenic miRNAs sharing 86.5% of predicted targets, indicating extensive regulatory overlap. KEGG enrichment highlighted 100 significantly enriched pathways (FDR < 0.05), including MAPK, PI3K-Akt, HIF-1, VEGF, and breast cancer signalling, with MAPK1 and MAPK3 among the most frequently targeted genes. Finally, miR-34a showed the best diagnostic performance for distinguishing benign from malignant CMTs. Overall, findings support a substantial contribution of miRNAs to angiogenic regulation in CMTs, strengthen the utility of the canine model in comparative breast cancer research, and highlight the potential of miRNA-based biomarkers for tumour stratification and anti-angiogenic targeting.

PMID:
42401208
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 05 Jul 2026.

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