Abstract Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the mobile tongue is the most common type of cancer of the oral cavity, accounting for 30-40% of oral cancers. It behaves aggressively and almost half of the affected patients still die of the disease despite great advances in its medical and surgical care. Ameloblastomas are the most common clinically significant type of odontogenic tumors, constituting approximately 1% of all cysts and tumors of the jaw. They are benign but locally invasive tumors with a strong tendency to recur after surgery. Ameloblastic carcinoma combines the histological features of ameloblastoma with cytologic atypia irrespective of the presence or absence of metastasis. The effectiveness of tight junction proteins (claudins 1, 4, 5, 7 and occludin) and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) as prognostic markers in OTSCC and as markers of malignancy in ameloblastomas was studied. Abundance of CAFs and Claudin 7 derangement was found to be associated with poor disease-specific survival in oral (mobile) tongue cancer. Appearance of CAFs within the epithelial islands of ameloblastoma was found to be a marker of malignancy in the tumor. The prognostic predictability of CAF density, Ki-67 (cell proliferation marker), maspin (tumor suppressor marker) and tumor DNA content (tumor ploidy using image cytometry) in tongue cancers was also tested. CAF density was the only marker strongly predictive of prognosis. In ameloblastomas, α-SMA (for CAFs), Ki-67, epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) and DNA content (using image and flow cytometry) were assessed as markers of ameloblastic carcinoma. Only α-SMA was able to predict ameloblastic carcinoma when found in the epithelial islands. In conclusion, staining for α-SMA and claudin 7 seems to be beneficial for prognostication in tongue cancer, while α-SMA staining may be beneficial in differentiating ameloblastoma from ameloblastic carcinoma.

Introduktion: Ameloblastom (AB), adenomatoid odontogen tumör (AOT), ameloblastiskt fibrom (AF) och odontogent fibrom (OF) är odontogena tumörer som innehåller epiteliala komponenter. Frekvensen av recidiv hos dessa varierar från låg förekomst till relativt hög förekomst. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om Ki-67, p53 och BRAF kan användas som prognostiska markörer i recidivmönstret hos dessa tumörer.Material och metod: Studien genomfördes genom immunohistokemi med monoklonala antikroppar av Ki-67, p53 och BRAF på respektive tumör. Tumörerna hämtades från avdelningen för Oral patologi på Malmö högskola. En statistisk analys utfördes med hjälp av Kruskal-Wallis envägs-ANOVA.Resultat: I de tio AB-fallen kunde en hög proliferation och en hög prevalens av muterade p53 ses. I de sju fallen av AOT kunde en måttligt hög proliferation och en generellt hög prevalens av muterade p53, jämförbara med värden för AB, ses. De sju fallen med AF och de fem fallen med OF visade båda en låg proliferation och en låg förekomst av muterade p53. Skillnaden mellan gruppen AB och AOT och gruppen AF och OF visade en signifikant högre infärgningsintensitet för både Ki-67 (p<0.001) och p53(p=0.001) för gruppen med AB och AOT.Konklusion: Proliferations index med Ki-67 och förekomst av p53-mutationer kan användas som en prognostisk markör för recidiv hos AB och AOT. Det är å andra sidan inte tillämpbart för AF och OF. / Introduction: Ameloblastoma (AB), adenomatoid odontogenic tumour (AOT), ameloblastic fibroma (AF) and odontogenic fibroma (OF) are all odontogenic tumours with an epithelial component. The recurrence rate for these odontogenic tumours varies from low frequencies to quite high frequencies. The aim of this study is to evaluate the expression of Ki-67, p53 and BRAF and the possibility of these antibodies acting as prognostic markers in the recurrence pattern of odontogenic tumours.Material and method: An immunohistochemical study using Ki67, p53 and BRAF monoclonal antibodies was performed on 29 paraffin blocks from the respective tumours obtained at the department of Oral Pathology in the Faculty of Odontology at Malmö University. Statistical analysis was performed with Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA.Results: In the series of ten AB cases high proliferation activity and a high prevalence of p53 mutations was observated. In the seven AOT cases a moderately high proliferative activity as well as a generally high prevalence of p53 mutation, comparable to AB, was observed. The seven cases of AF and the five cases of OF demonstrated a low proliferative activity and a low prevalence of p53 mutation. The difference between AB and AOT versus AF and OF as two separate groups, showed a significantly higher staining intensity for both Ki-67 (p < 0.001) and p53 (p = 0.001) in AB and AOT as a group.Conclusion: Ki-67 proliferation index and p53-mutation status can be considered to be a prognostic marker for AB and AOT recurrence. This is, however, not applicable to AF and OF.