Oronasal mucosal melanoma is defined by two transcriptional subtypes in humans and dogs with implications for diagnosis and therapy.

Mucosal melanoma is a rare melanoma subtype associated with a poor prognosis and limited existing therapeutic interventions, in part due to a lack of actionable targets and translational animal models for preclinical trials. Comprehensive data on this tumour type are scarce, and existing data often overlooks the importance of the anatomical site of origin. We evaluated human and canine oronasal mucosal melanoma (OMM) to determine whether the common canine disease could inform the rare human equivalent.

Development of a multiple-marker polymerase chain reaction assay for detection of metastatic melanoma in lymph node aspirates of dogs.

Objective: To develop a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay to detect canine melanoma-associated antigens (MAAs) and to use this technique to screen aspirates of lymph nodes (LNs) for evidence of metastatic spread of oral malignant melanoma.

Animals: 7 dogs with oral malignant melanoma and 4 dogs with multicentric lymphosarcoma.

Procedures: We prepared cDNA from melanoma tumor biopsies and fine-needle aspirates obtained from submandibular LNs of dogs with oral malignant melanoma or multicentric lymphosarcoma.