Alves Pereira Karuza Maria, do Amaral Bruna Aguiar, dos Santos Bruna Rafaela Martins, Galvão Hébel Cavalcanti, Freitas Roseana de Almeida, de Souza Lélia Batista
Post-Graduate Program, Oral Pathology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod. 2010 Mar;109(3):425-31. doi: 10.1016/j.tripleo.2009.10.032.
The aim was to analyze the expression of E-cadherin and beta-catenin in ameloblastomas and tooth germs to determine their roles in cell differentiation processes and invasiveness compared with odontogenesis.
Twenty-one ameloblastoma cases (16 solid and 5 unicystic tumors) and 5 tooth germs were submitted to the immunohistochemical detection of E-cadherin and beta-catenin. Immunoreactivity was evaluated using descriptive and semiquantitative analysis, investigating the location and intensity of staining. The Fisher exact test was performed, and P values of <.05 were considered to indicate statistical significance.
There was no statistically significant difference in the expression of E-cadherin and beta-catenin between solid and unicystic ameloblastomas (P = .59; P = .63; respectively). The same was found when comparing solid and unicystic ameloblastomas with the tooth germs for both E-cadherin (P = .53; P = .44; respectively) and beta-catenin (P = .12; P = .16; respectively). Nuclear staining of beta-catenin was observed in only 4 cases (3 solid and 1 unicystic tumor).
The results showed no differences in the expression of E-cadherin or beta-catenin between tooth germs and solid and unicystic ameloblastomas. The expression of these molecules seems mainly to be related to the process of cell differentiation.
分析E-钙黏蛋白和β-连环蛋白在成釉细胞瘤和牙胚中的表达，以确定它们在细胞分化过程和侵袭性方面与牙发生相比所起的作用。
对21例成釉细胞瘤病例（16例实性和5例单囊性肿瘤）和5个牙胚进行E-钙黏蛋白和β-连环蛋白的免疫组织化学检测。使用描述性和半定量分析评估免疫反应性，研究染色的位置和强度。进行Fisher精确检验，P值<.05被认为具有统计学意义。
实性和单囊性成釉细胞瘤之间E-钙黏蛋白和β-连环蛋白的表达无统计学显著差异（分别为P =.59；P =.63）。在将实性和单囊性成釉细胞瘤与牙胚比较E-钙黏蛋白（分别为P =.53；P =.44）和β-连环蛋白（分别为P =.12；P =.16）时也发现了同样的情况。仅在4例病例（3例实性和1例单囊性肿瘤）中观察到β-连环蛋白的核染色。
结果显示牙胚与实性和单囊性成釉细胞瘤之间E-钙黏蛋白或β-连环蛋白的表达无差异。这些分子的表达似乎主要与细胞分化过程有关。
