Tanaka Akio, Okamoto Motoyoshi, Yoshizawa Dai, Ito Shigeru, Alva Patricia González, Ide Fumio, Kusama Kaoru
Division of Pathology, Department of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Sciences, Meikai University School of Dentistry, Saitama, Japan.
J Oral Pathol Med. 2007 Aug;36(7):400-4. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0714.2007.00550.x.
Although it has been reported that ghost cells are present in odontomas, the generation mechanism of these cells is unclear. To evaluate the presence of ghost cells and involvement of the Wnt signaling pathway, we examined the expression of hard keratins, beta-catenin and Lef-1 in odontomas.
Sixty-nine cases of odontoma were examined immunohistochemically with the use of antibodies against human hair proteins, beta-catenin and Lef-1.
Expression of hard keratins was found only in the cytoplasm of ghost cells in 46 (66.7%) of the 69 odontomas. Compound odontomas (78.8%) showed a higher incidence of ghost cells than complex odontomas (29.4%). Histopathologically, ghost cells were found within odontogenic epithelium adjacent to immature enamel and in the centre of Liesegang-ring-like calcified materials. Expression of beta-catenin and Lef-1 was observed in the cytoplasm and nucleus of odontogenic epithelial cells adjacent to the ghost cells in immature odontomas.
These findings suggest that odontoma is a hard keratin-expressing tumor-like lesion, and that the Wnt signaling pathway may be involved in the formation of ghost cells in odontomas.
尽管已有报道称牙瘤中存在影细胞，但这些细胞的生成机制尚不清楚。为了评估影细胞的存在以及Wnt信号通路的参与情况，我们检测了牙瘤中硬角蛋白、β-连环蛋白和淋巴样增强因子-1（Lef-1）的表达。
使用抗人毛发蛋白、β-连环蛋白和Lef-1的抗体，对69例牙瘤进行免疫组织化学检查。
在69例牙瘤中的46例（66.7%）中，仅在影细胞的细胞质中发现硬角蛋白表达。混合性牙瘤（78.8%）中影细胞的发生率高于复杂性牙瘤（29.4%）。组织病理学上，在与未成熟釉质相邻的牙源性上皮内以及莱氏环样钙化物质的中心发现影细胞。在未成熟牙瘤中，与影细胞相邻的牙源性上皮细胞的细胞质和细胞核中观察到β-连环蛋白和Lef-1的表达。
这些发现表明牙瘤是一种表达硬角蛋白的肿瘤样病变，并且Wnt信号通路可能参与牙瘤中影细胞的形成。
