Angiogenesis concept in odontogenic keratocyst: A comparative study

Recent reports have indicated that angiogenesis possibly affects the biologic behavior of the lesions. Given the different clinical behaviors of odontogenic keratocyst (OKC), the present study was undertaken to evaluate the concept of angiogenesis in pathogenesis and clinical behavior of OKC. This experimental study was carried out on 22 and 24 samples of OKCs and dentigerous cysts (DCs), respectively. Immunohistochemical staining was approached using CD34 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) antibodies. The expression of VEGF was first reported by determining the counts of stained cells, including epithelial cells, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells, followed by the percentage of stained cells in each sample based on a 0-2 scoring system. The counts of CD34+ cells were reported in each group in the form of means ± standard deviations. In addition, the patterns of blood vessels in the samples prepared from the walls of both cysts were evaluated. Mann-Whitney U-test, Chi-squared test, and t-test were used for analysis of data, and statistical significance was defined at p < 0.05. The expression percentage and scores of VEGF and the mean expression rate of CD34 were significantly higher in OKCs than DCs (p = 0.045, 0.000, and p = 0.58). Finally, there was a strong correlation between the expressions of the two markers in the samples (Correlation coefficient = 0.766). The present results indicate the angiogenesis may play an important role in the pathogenesis and the unique clinical behavior of OKC.