Immunohistochemistry – A Tool for Diagnosis and Prognosis of Tumours In Domestic Animals

Despite significant progress made in the field of oncology, cancer still remains an enigma in human and veterinary medicine. Immunohistochemistry(IHC) is an important tool, which can be employed to study the nature of neoplasia. Determining an exact tumor type using standard hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of formalin-fixed tissues are challenging, especially with metastatic and/or poorly differentiated tumours. IHC can aid in subtyping as in lymphoma and histogenetic characterization in undifferentiated tumours. Although experimental research has shown that tumour markers have a good potential to be used as diagnostic, prognostic or predictive markers in canine tumours, insufficient evidence exists on their efficacy for routine use in veterinary oncology.