Dados do Trabalho

Título

Imunohistochemical expression of podoplanin in myoepithelial cells of benign and malignant salivary gland neoplasms

Introdução

Salivary gland neoplasms are a heterogeneous group of lesions that account for approximately 3-6% of all head and neck tumors. These neoplasms present distinct histological characteristics and this variation has been attributed to myoepithelial cells. An appropriate marker for these cells under neoplastic conditions is yet to be defined. Podoplanin is a mucin-like glycoprotein, and it has been shown that this protein plays an important role in carcinogenesis and metastasis of different tumors.

Objetivo

The objective of this study is to investigate podoplanin expression in myoepithelial cells using immunohistochemical technique in benign and malignant salivary gland tumors.

Métodos

A total of 30 paraffin-embedded specimens of histologically diagnosed salivary gland neoplasms with clinical records of the patients were retrieved, being divided in benign tumors – 11 samples of pleomorphic adenoma, 02 samples of myoepithelioma, 05 samples of basal cell adenoma, and malignant tumors – 08 samples of carcinoma ex adenoma, 03 samples of myoepithelial carcinoma and 01 sample of basal cell adenocarcinoma. These samples were immunohistochemically stained with podoplanin and its expression was compared with demographic, clinical and pathological characteristics of the patients. This work was approved under ethics committee protocol number 2706/19.

Resultados

Protein expression were qualitatively and semi-quantitatively analyzed and classified as negative or positive (focal, diffuse, or abundant). Podoplanin expression was observed in all benign tumors. In pleomorphic adenoma and basal cell adenoma the staining pattern was predominantly abundant. Myoepithelioma showed focal to abundant staining. In malignant tumors, myoepithelial carcinoma showed focal to abundant staining and basal cell adenocarcinoma showed abundant staining. Most of the carcinoma ex adenoma cases was negative for podoplanin expression (05 to 08 cases). Comparing the expression of podoplanin between benign and malignant tumors, a statistically significant difference was observed, with podoplanin being more expressed in benign tumors (p = 0.005). However, there was no statistically significant association between the demographic, clinical and pathological parameter of the patients with the expression of podoplanin.

Conclusões

The results suggest that podoplanin presented an equivalent expression in the benign tumors derived from the intercalated duct of the salivary gland. They also show that podoplanin was differently expressed in benign and malignant tumors.

Palavras-chave

Podoplanin
Myoepithelial cells
Salivary gland neoplasms

Financiador do resumo

CNPq Research Grant 308990/2018-8