Prevalence and importance of internal tandem duplications in exons 11 and 12 of c- kit in mast cell tumors of dogs

Abstract

These results provide evidence that ITDs in c-kit occur frequently in MCTs of dogs. The high prevalence of c-kit activating mutations in MCTs of dogs combined with the relative abundance of mast cell disease in dogs provide an ideal naturally developing tumor in which to test the safety and efficacy of novel small-molecule kinase inhibitors such as imatinib mesylate.