• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Locations:
  • Canyon
  • Center
  • College Station
  • Gonzales
  • TVMDL Career Center
  • Contact Us

Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory

Apple App

download on the Apple App Store
download the app on Google Play

Search

Translate:

  • Find a Form
  • Deliver a Sample
    • Specimen Collection Information
    • Packaging Samples for Shipment
    • Drop Off a Sample
    • Cremation
    • Order Supplies
  • Client Portal
    • Get Test Results
    • SVA Portal
    • Pay a Bill
  • Become a Client
  • Resources
    • TVMDL Bovine Testing Guidance and Reference Material
    • Diagnostic Plans
      • Bovine Syndromic Diagnostic Plans
      • Equine Syndromic Diagnostic Plans
      • Small Ruminant Syndromic Diagnostic Plans
      • Small Animal Syndromic Diagnostic Plans
    • Education Library
    • Case Study Library
    • Electronic Reporting: QR Coding Process
    • CoreOne Resources
  • About Us
    • Locations and Hours
    • Agency Leadership
    • Speaker’s Bureau
    • Texas Pullorum-Typhoid Program
    • TVMDL Mobile app
    • Contact Us
  • Locations
    • College Station Laboratory
    • Canyon Laboratory
    • Center Laboratory
    • Gonzales Laboratory
  • Contact Us

Hyperestrogenism Syndrome in a Dog with a Sertoli Cell Tumor

November 30, 2020 by Mallory Pfeifer

Hyperestrogenism Syndrome in a Dog with a Sertoli Cell Tumor
Erin Edwards, DVM, MS, DACVP

Sertoli cell tumors are unique testicular tumors that are known for their ability to cause feminization of male dogs. These tumors are commonly diagnosed via histopathology at the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL). Usually, little clinical history is provided with these submissions, and usually only testicles are submitted. This article describes a case of Sertoli cell tumor in a dog with diagnostic features of hyperestrogenism syndrome seen in additionally submitted mammary gland and skin specimens.

The patient was a 9-year-old, male, Jack Russell Terrier, and TVMDL received four formalin-fixed biopsy specimens including both testicles, a mammary gland, and an unrelated dermal mass. Reported physical exam findings included alopecia, single mammary gland enlargement, and testicular asymmetry with one large, firm testicle and one small, soft testicle. Histopathologic examination was diagnostic for a testicular Sertoli cell tumor within the enlarged testicle, and the contralateral testicle was atrophied. The mammary gland specimen exhibited teat enlargement and mammary gland development with ductular and lobular hyperplasia. There were changes of endocrine dermatopathy noted in the skin of the mammary gland specimen and in the skin of the dermal mass specimen.

Sertoli cell tumors are common in dogs and are rare in other species. They classically occur in cryptorchid testicles, but they can also occur in descended scrotal testicles, as seen in this case. The incidence of Sertoli cell tumors is more than 20 times higher in cryptorchid testicles. Approximately 25% of dogs with Sertoli cell tumors exhibit signs of clinical hyperestrogenism syndrome, regardless of whether the tumors are in descended or cryptorchid testicles. Hyperestrogenism syndrome is due to production of estrogen by the neoplastic cells. Lesions associated with this syndrome include feminization, gynecomastia (male mammary gland development), testicular and penile atrophy, squamous metaplasia of the prostate, symmetrical alopecia, and/or bone marrow suppression. These clinical signs typically resolve following removal of the Sertoli cell tumor.

For more information on histopathology testing at TVMDL, visit tvmdl.tamu.edu or call one of the agency’s full-service laboratories.

References:
– Agnew, D. W., & MacLachlan, N. J. (2017). Tumors of the genital system. In D. Meuten (Ed.), Tumors in domestic animals (5th ed., pp. 707-708). Ames, IA: John Wiley & Sons.
– Foster, R. A. (2016). Male genital system. In M.G. Maxie (Ed.), Jubb, Kennedy and Palmer’s pathology of domestic animals (6th ed., pp. 494-495). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.

Filed Under: Case Study Tagged With: canine, college station, dog, histopathology, pathology, TVMDL

Primary Sidebar

Latest Case Studies

  • Neurologic Disease due to Bovine Herpesvirus-5 (BHV-5) Infection in a 3-week-old Charolais mix calf

    February 27, 2023

  • Rare case of ocular onchocerciasis in a dog from south Texas

    January 25, 2023

  • Cerebrospinal Nematodiasis (Visceral Larval Migrans) in Birds

    September 13, 2022

  • Spironucleosis (Hexamitiasis) in Quail

    August 9, 2022

  • Endocarditis in a White-Tailed Deer Caused by Trueperella pyogenes

    August 9, 2022

Footer

For Employees

  • Employee Email
  • TVMDL Rules & Procedures
  • TVMDL Career Center
  • Emergency Alert Systems
  • AgriLife People Directory
  • AgriLife Administrative Services
  • TAMUS Single Sign On
  • Facebook

State of Texas

  • Texas.gov Portal
  • Texas Veterans Portal
  • Statewide Search
  • Texas Homeland Security
  • Risk, Fraud, & Misconduct Hotline

Policies

  • Privacy and Security Policy
  • Accessibility Policy
  • Texas A&M AgriLife
  • Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory
  • Texas A&M Forest Service
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Research

483 Agronomy Rd
College Station, TX 77843