Canine tumors are valuable comparative models for human counterparts, especially to explore novel biomarkers and to understand pathways and processes involved in metastasis. Vasculogenic mimicry (VM) is a unique property of malignant cancer cells which promote metastasis. Thus, it represents an opportunity to investigate both the molecular mechanisms and the therapeutic targets of a crucial phenotypic malignant switch. Although this biological process has been largely investigated in different human cancer types, including osteosarcoma, it is still largely unknown in veterinary pathology, where it has been mainly explored in canine mammary tumors. The presence of VM in human osteosarcoma is associated with poor clinical outcome, reduced patient survival, and increased risk of metastasis and it shares the main pathways involved in other type of human tumors. This review illustrates the main findings concerning the VM process in human osteosarcoma, search for the related current knowledge in canine pathology and oncology, and potential involvement of multiple pathways in VM formation, in order to provide a basis for future investigations on VM in canine tumors.

犬肿瘤是人类对应物的有价值的比较模型，特别是探索新的生物标志物和了解参与转移的途径和过程。血管生成拟态 (VM) 是促进转移的恶性癌细胞的独特特性。因此，它代表了一个研究关键表型恶性转变的分子机制和治疗靶点的机会。尽管已经在不同的人类癌症类型（包括骨肉瘤）中对这种生物学过程进行了大量研究，但在兽医病理学中仍然很大程度上未知，主要在犬乳腺肿瘤中进行了探索。VM 在人类骨肉瘤中的存在与较差的临床结果、降低的患者存活率、和转移风险增加，它与其他类型的人类肿瘤共享主要途径。这篇综述阐述了人类骨肉瘤中 VM 过程的主要发现，搜索犬病理学和肿瘤学的相关当前知识，以及多条通路在 VM 形成中的潜在参与，为未来犬肿瘤中 VM 的研究提供基础。 .