Immunohistochemical detection of proteins associated with multidrug resistance to anti-cancer drugs in canine and feline primary pulmonary carcinoma.

Fifty-two canine and eighteen feline primary pulmonary carcinomas were evaluated immunohistochemically for the expression of proteins associated with multidrug resistance to anti-cancer drugs. P-glycoprotein (PGP), multidrug resistance-related protein (MRP) and lung resistance-related protein (LRP) expression were frequently observed in neoplastic cells of all carcinoma types, and metallothionein (MT) expression was observed in about half of each carcinoma type. Furthermore, overlapping expression was detected in all positive cases. These results indicate that most canine and feline primary pulmonary carcinomas may have strong multidrug resistance, which is related to the PGP, MRP, LRP or MT expression. It might be difficult to treat canine and feline primary pulmonary carcinomas using anti-cancer drugs because of multidrug resistance.