Disseminated Haemophagocytic Histiocytic Sarcoma in an African Pygmy Hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris)

Establishment of a histiocytic sarcoma cell line and anti-tumor effect of bortezomib in the African pygmy hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris)

The African pygmy hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris) is known to have a high incidence of tumor. However, investigating the tumors of this species has been constrained by the limited availability of research materials such as cell lines and genome information. In this study, we successfully established a novel cell line from a histiocytic sarcoma (HS) of an African pygmy hedgehog, allowing us to conduct a drug screening. We investigated using FDA-approved drug library screening to determine which anticancer drug this tumor cell line is sensitive to, and as a result of apoptosis experiments, bortezomib among the three proteasome inhibitors was found to induce cell death of cancer cells by significantly increasing caspase-3 cleavage (P<0.01). Thus, we elucidated that the proteasome inhibitors, particularly bortezomib, exhibit anti-tumor effects on a cell line derived from an HS in an African pygmy hedgehog through a mechanism comparable to that described in human tumors. This study reports the first characterized cell line from the African pygmy hedgehog and also highlights the potential utility of bortezomib as an anti-tumor treatment for HS in this species.