Alteração de moléculas de adesão no ceratocisto odontogênico

Abstract

The odontogenic keratocyst (OKC) is a cystic lesion composed of a thin and friable capsule. The epithelial lining consists of a layer of stratified squamous epithelium, and partial or nearly complete detachment of the epithelial layer can be observed. OKC present a high recurrence rate that may be associated with a weak adhesion between cell-cell and cell- extracellular matrix (ECM), causing tissue fragmentation and allowing cells to detach during surgical intervention. A previous proteomic analysis identified alterations in proteases (CTSD), desmosome-associated adhesion proteins (PPL), and cell-ECM junction molecules (FBLN1, LGALS7, TLN1), suggesting that these molecular changes could be associated to the recurrent behavior of OKC. In an attempt to clarify the molecular basis underlining the recurrence potential of OKC, we investigated the expression levels of genes associated with cell-cell and cell-ECM adhesion in a larger cohort of OKC and compared to radicular cyst (RC) and oral mucosa (OM). The RT-qPCR results are in line with proteomics analysis and showedupregulation of TLN1 (p<0.05) compared to OM. Compared to RC, OKC showedhigher expression of PPL (p<0.05) and LGALS7 (p<0.05). The expression of TLN1, PPL, and LGALS7 tend to reduce in OKC samples that exhibit high epithelium detachment of the cystic capsule. In conclusion our results showed alteration in genes modulating cell-cell and cell-ECM interactions in OKC. Further studies are needed to understand the role of these proteins in adhesion or in other activities such as proliferation and survival.