Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) have been involved in growth and metastases of human and canine mammary tumors. However, the prognostic importance of TAM specific location in canine mammary tumors (CMT) was not evaluated. In this study, we evaluated the potential role of TAMs in specific histologic locations – intratumoral (iTAM) and stromal (sTAM), as well as total macrophage (tTAM) counts – as prognostic indicators in CMT. Clinicopathologic data from 66 animals with mammary carcinoma and their tumors were used in this study. Samples were stained with anti-macrophage antibody for subsequent TAM count. High levels of iTAM, sTAM, and tTAM were related with advanced clinical stage and vascular invasion. Additionally, tTAM revealed a relation with larger tumor size, while high levels of sTAM and tTAM were also correlated with node metastasis and a poor prognosis based on survival analysis. CMT with aggressive features can reveal higher TAM counts. TAMs are associated with vascular invasion and nodal metastasis, and sTAM and tTAM counts are correlated with overall survival, suggesting they could be used as prognostic indicators in canine mammary carcinomas.

肿瘤相关巨噬细胞（TAM）已参与人类和犬类乳腺肿瘤的生长和转移。但是，未评估TAM特定位置在犬乳腺肿瘤（CMT）中的预后重要性。在这项研究中，我们评估了TAM在特定组织学位置–肿瘤内（iTAM）和基质（sTAM）以及总巨噬细胞（tTAM）计数–作为CMT预后指标的潜在作用。本研究使用了66例患有乳癌及其肿瘤的动物的临床病理数据。样品用抗巨噬细胞抗体染色以进行随后的TAM计数。高水平的iTAM，sTAM和tTAM与晚期临床阶段和血管浸润有关。此外，tTAM揭示了与更大的肿瘤大小有关，基于生存分析，高水平的sTAM和tTAM也与淋巴结转移和不良预后相关。具有激进功能的CMT可以显示更高的TAM数量。TAM与血管浸润和淋巴结转移有关，并且sTAM和tTAM计数与总体生存率相关，表明它们可以用作犬乳腺癌的预后指标。