IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL DEMONSTRATION OF WILMS-TUMOR GENE-PRODUCT WT1 IN A CANINE NEUROEPITHELIOMA PROVIDING EVIDENCE FOR ITS CLASSIFICATION ASAN EXTRARENAL NEPHROBLASTOMA

An intradural extramedullary tumour, surgically removed from the spina l canal of a young dog with paraplegia, had the histological appearanc e of a nephroblastoma. Subsequent necropsy revealed no evidence of a r enal primary tumour or of any other tumour. Similar tumours of the spi nal canal have been described previously under a variety of names, in particular neuroepithelioma. With an antibody to the human Wilms tumou r (nephroblastoma) gene product WT1, labelling of glomeruloid bodies, similar to glomerular podocytes in human fetal kidney, was demonstrate d in the tumour. This finding strengthened the suggestion that it was a nephroblastoma. (C) 1997 W.B. Saunders Company Limited.