From companion animals to patients: interspecies lessons in neuroendocrine oncology.

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are rare heterogeneous neoplasms that arise in multiple organs of humans and companion animals and can produce diverse hormonal syndromes or remain clinically silent, leading to delayed diagnosis. Given shared environments and conserved neuroendocrine morphology across species, companion animals represent an attractive yet underexplored model for comparative oncology. This literature review searched PubMed through December 2025 and qualitatively synthesized evidence on the epidemiology, macroscopic and histologic features, biomarkers, clinical presentation, imaging modalities, treatment, and prognosis of neuroendocrine tumors in humans, dogs, and cats. Collectively, this review indicates that neuroendocrine tumors in dogs and cats recapitulate many key biological and clinical features of human NETs and therefore hold meaningful translational potential, particularly for functional pancreatic, hepatic, and intestinal tumors. However, substantial gaps in veterinary epidemiologic surveillance, biomarker validation, imaging standardization, and prospective therapeutic evaluation currently limit full comparative integration. Addressing these gaps through coordinated, multicenter comparative studies and harmonized reporting frameworks could enhance diagnosis and management in veterinary patients while advancing spontaneous animal models for human NET research.
Cancer
Care/Management

Authors

Ribeiro Ribeiro, Maioral Maioral, Fujimoto Fujimoto, Galan Galan, Bastos-Lebold Bastos-Lebold, Fillmore Fillmore, Soraes Soraes, Egal Egal
View on Pubmed
Share
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Linkedin
Copy to clipboard