Nephroblastoma with Mucus-Producing and
Argentaffin Cells in a Pig
Barbara Brunetti*, B.
Bacci and G. Sarli
Department of Veterinary Public Health and Animal
Pathology, Division of Veterinary Pathology, University of Bologna,
Ozzano Emilia - Bologna - Italy.
*Corresponding author: b.brunetti@unibo.it
Abstract
Nephroblastoma is the
most common primary renal neoplasm of swine and man. This report describes a
swine nephroblastoma localized at the caudal pole of the left kidney, extending
to the renal hilum which, on light microscopy, showed unusual mucus-producing
epithelial cells of many tubules. The presence of intracytoplasmic mucin was
confirmed by PAS-diastase positivity and alcianophilia both at pH 2.5 and at
1.0. Mucin-producing cells revealed cytokeratin 19 and pankeratin AE1/AE3
positivity, and some of them a chromogranin A immunohistochemical positivity;
they were also positive for Grimelius stain. In veterinary medicine, even if the
occurrence of mucus-producing cells in nephroblastoma has rarely been observed,
this is the first description of a case of swine nephroblastoma with
mucus-producing cells positive for neuroendocrine markers, thus a neuroendocrine
origin was suspected.