Peripheral ameloblastoma with potentially malignant features: report of a case with special regard to its keratin profile.

A peripheral ameloblastoma with atypical features occurring on the left maxillary alveolar ridge of 40-year-old man is described, along with an immunohistochemical profile of its cytokeratin (CK). The lesion apparently originated from the surface gingival epithelium. The tumor nests or strands were highly cellular with a variable degree of squamous differentiation and microcyst formation. Occasional mitotic figures and dystrophic calcification, both of which are not seen in conventional ameloblastomas, were also observed. The tumor infiltrated deep into the alveolar mucosa, including the periodontal ligament, and showed histological and topographical evidence of atypism, resulting in resorption of the underlying alveolar bone. On the CK immunohistochemistry, CK19 was demonstrated in all the types of neoplastic epithelia, including microcyst-forming cells, densely packed round or spindle cells within the tumor nests, cells with squamous metaplasia, and peripheral tall columnar cells. The CK immunohistochemical findings suggest the lesion's cell of odontogenic origin; they may reflect an immature phenotypic expression of cell differentiation in the odontogenic epithelia during the tumor growth in the gingival mucosa.