Comparative analysis of the expression of cytokeratins, cell adhesion molecules, proliferative and angiogenic patterns in benign and malignant odontogenic tumors

• Grant number: 14/17642-8
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: November 01, 2014
• End date: October 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry
• Principal Investigator: Oslei Paes de Almeida
• Grantee: Oslei Paes de Almeida
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba (FOP). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Odontogenic tumors are a highly heterogeneous group of lesions derived from dental tissues, occurring in the jaw and adjacent tissues. Due to their clinicopathologic variability, the diagnosis of these tumors becomes a real challenge even for experient pathologists, which contributes for the discrete knowledgment concerning biologic factors involved in the clinical behavior of these lesions. Therefore, the characterization of structural proteins such as cytokeratins and proliferative biomarkers, as well as the identification of factors involved in the angiogenic process and cell adhesion could significantly assist the diagnosis of these neoplasias and favor an improved prognostic determination of the affected patients. In the present study, using immunohistochemistry techniques, and with the help of softwares and algorithms for digital analyses from Aperio system, the authors aim to characterize the expression pattern of cytokeratins 5/6, 7, 14 and 19 in 77 benign and malignant odontogenic tumors cases, as well as the expression of cell adhesion molecules CD138, E-cadherin and ²-catenin, and evaluating the proliferative pattern of these tumors with the molecular markers Ki-67 and Mcm-2, as well as analyzing the tumoral angiogenic features by evaluating the expression of CD34, CD105 and vascular endothelium growth factor VEGF-A, identifying the importance of these biological variables for diagnosis and prognostic determination of patients affected by this group of lesion. (AU)