Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the immunoexpression of glucose transporters 1 (GLUT-1) and 3 (GLUT-3) in keratocystic odontogenic tumors associated with Gorlin syndrome (SKOTs) and non-syndromic keratocystic odontogenic tumors (NSKOTs), and to establish correlations with the angiogenic index. Seventeen primary NSKOTs, seven recurrent NSKOTs, and 17 SKOTs were selected for the study. The percentage of immunopositive cells for GLUT-1 and GLUT-3 in the epithelial component of the tumors was assessed. The angiogenic index was determined by microvessel count. The results were analyzed statistically using the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test and Spearman's correlation test. High epithelial immunoexpression of GLUT-1 was observed in most tumors (p = 0.360). There was a higher frequency of negative cases for GLUT-3 in all groups. The few GLUT-3-positive tumors exhibited low expression of this protein in epithelial cells. No significant difference in the angiogenic index was observed between groups (p = 0.778). GLUT-1 expression did not correlate significantly with the angiogenic index (p > 0.05). The results suggest that the more aggressive biological behavior of SKOTs when compared to NSKOTs may not be related to GLUT-1 or GLUT-3 expression. GLUT-1 may play an important role in glucose uptake by epithelial cells of KOTs and this process is unlikely related to the angiogenic index. GLUT-1 could be a potential target for future development of therapeutic strategies for KOTs.
Highlights
Keratocystic odontogenic tumor (KOT), which is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a benign cystic neoplasm,[1] is an important odontogenic tumor because of its potentially aggressive biological behavior characterized by its tendency to recur and of its association with Gorlin syndrome in some cases.[2,3,4]
Studies investigating extracellular matrix composition[8] and the expression of proteases[9,10] and proteins involved in cell cycle regulation and bone remodeling,[6,11] as well as those on the characteristics of fibroblasts found in the tumor stroma,[11] emphasize the existence of a more aggressive biological behavior of KOTs associated with Gorlin syndrome when compared to non-syndromic KOTs (NSKOTs)
Similar findings have been reported in a study with dentigerous cysts, ameloblastomas, and KOTs.[20]. These findings suggest that the use of GLUT-3 for glucose uptake is a rare mechanism in KOTs, which is used by a small number of cells in the epithelial component of these tumors
Summary
Keratocystic odontogenic tumor (KOT), which is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a benign cystic neoplasm,[1] is an important odontogenic tumor because of its potentially aggressive biological behavior characterized by its tendency to recur and of its association with Gorlin syndrome in some cases.[2,3,4]Compared to KOTs associated with Gorlin syndrome, non-syndromic KOTs (NSKOTs) have been suggested to exhibit a less aggressive behaviorBraz. Keratocystic odontogenic tumor (KOT), which is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a benign cystic neoplasm,[1] is an important odontogenic tumor because of its potentially aggressive biological behavior characterized by its tendency to recur and of its association with Gorlin syndrome in some cases.[2,3,4]. Among the different proteins involved in glucose uptake into the intracellular medium, glucose transporters 1 (GLUT-1) and 3 (GLUT-3) have been identified in normal human tissues as well as in malignant neoplasms.[13,14] In the latter, the expression of these GLUTs has been associated with a more aggressive biological behavior of the tumor characterized by the presence of lymph node metastases, disease recurrence, and lower survival rates of the patients.[12,15,16,17] Despite these important findings, we found only few studies in the English literature (PubMed database) that investigated the expression of GLUTs in odontogenic lesions.[18,19,20]
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