Adjuvant therapy with toceranib for hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma in a Pomeranian

Vet Med (Praha). 2023 Feb 23;68(2):83-89. doi: 10.17221/49/2022-VETMED. eCollection 2023 Feb.

Abstract

A 10-year-old spayed female Pomeranian dog was referred for hepatic mass evaluation. Blood tests revealed mildly elevated alkaline phosphatase activities. Computed tomography revealed a mass with multiple nodules on the right hepatic medial lobe adjacent to the caudal vena cava; histopathology confirmed mixed hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CC). Because of incomplete resection, adjuvant therapy was recommended. As tumour cells showed PDGFR-α, c-Kit, and FGFR1 overexpression, the anticancer effect of tyrosine kinase inhibitors was evaluated on the cells; toceranib was the most effective and was administered starting with an extra-labelled dose. The dog remained stable for 2.3 years with mild adverse effects. To our knowledge, this is the first successful clinical application of toceranib in a dog with mixed HCC-CC.

Keywords: anticancer effect; biliary carcinoma; canine.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

Grants and funding

Supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (Project No. NRF-2021R1A2C2008112).