Lymphoma is a cancer arising from B or T lymphocytes that are central immune system components. It is one of the three most common cancers encountered in the canine; lymphoma affects middle-aged to older dogs and usually stems from lymphatic tissues, such as lymph nodes, lymphoid tissue, or spleen. Despite the advance in the management of canine lymphoma, a better understanding of the subtype and tumor aggressiveness is still crucial for improved clinical diagnosis to differentiate malignancy from hyperplastic conditions and to improve decision-making around treating and what treatment type to use. This study aimed to evaluate a potential novel biomarker related to iron metabolism, embryonic haemoglobin (HBE), for early diagnosis. Archived samples in combination with prospective samples collected from dogs with and without lymphoma were used in this study for the retrospective analyses of this tumor based on the same biomarker amplified by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The HBE mRNA was aberrantly expressed in canine B and T cell lymphoma compared to the normal lymph node tissue and hyperplastic lymph nodes. In conclusion, this study identified a novel potential biomarker for improving lymphoma diagnosis and treatment in dogs. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm the suitability of this biomarker for canine lymphoma diagnosis.
