Perfil imuno-histoquímico de marcadores associados à transição epitelio-mesenquimal em lesões odontogênicas belignas

Abstract

Odontogenic lesions represented by cysts and tumors originate from embryonic remnants of odontogenesis. Although multiple factors are associated with the etiology of these diseases, the role of genetic and molecular influence on their morphogenesis is being investigated. From this perspective, several studies seek to understand the influence of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) on the development of these pathologies and, mainly, how such dynamics are capable of interfering, through specific proteins, such as E-cadherin, N-cadherin, vimentin and Zeb-1, in biological behavior, tumor progression and clinical subtype of these diseases. The objective of this study is to analyze the immunohistochemical profile of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, Vimentin and Zeb-1 in Ameloblastomas (AB), Odontogenic Keratocysts (OKC) and Dentigerous Cysts (DC) and relate them to the clinical parameters obtained. Clinical data were collected from 15 cases of AB, 15 cases of OKC and 15 cases of DCs, such as age, sex, anatomical location, radiographic image, symptoms and recurrence. In the histopathological study, all specimens submitted to the immunohistochemical technique were evaluated by light microscopy, and subjected to a random choice of 05 (five) fields, which were photographed at a magnification of 400x. The immunoreactivity of these proteins in these lesions was evaluated in a semiquantitative way, in which immunohistochemical expression was performed based on cell counts, considering cytoplasmic and/or membrane staining for E-cadherin, cytoplasmic and/or nuclear labeling for N-cadherin, Vimentin and Zeb-1. Subsequently, it was evaluated by multiplying scores associated with the percentage of immunostained cells and staining intensity scores, taking an average of the five fields on each slide, defining them as low expression or high expression. The Chi-square or Fisher's Exact association test was performed, with a statistical significance level of 05%. The results showed a peak in prevalence between the 2nd and 3rd decades of life, with a predilection for the posterior mandible, mostly presenting a unilocular radiographic image and asymptomatology, with a predilection for females in AB and OKC, and for males in DC. The immunohistochemical results demonstrated high expressions of E-cadherin and N-cadherin, low expression of vimentin and negative expression of Zeb-1 for the odontogenic lesions studied. When carrying out association tests between the immunoexpression of proteins and the benign epithelial odontogenic lesions studied, statistically significant results were obtained for low expression of cytoplasmic E-cadherin in DC and high expression of nuclear and cytoplasmic N-cadherin in OKC. Furthermore, when making the association between the immunoexpression of E-cadherin in AB and the clinical parameters found, a significant association of high E-cadherin expression was observed with patients over 30 years of age. It was concluded that the EMT process seems to occur in benign odontogenic lesions in a partial way, and in OKCs, it may be enabling the recurrence of this lesion. Furthermore, Zeb-1 appears not to be the transcription factor responsible for EMT in these lesions.