BACKGROUND

Recent reports have indicated that angiogenesis possibly affects the biologic behavior of the lesions.

OBJECTIVE

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.

METHODS

This experimental study was carried out on 22 and 24 samples of OKCs and dentigerous cysts (DCs), respectively.

METHODS

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.

METHODS

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.

RESULTS

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).

CONCLUSIONS

The present results indicate the angiogenesis may play an important role in the pathogenesis and the unique clinical behavior of OKC.