An Investigation of the Differences in Cortactin, MT1‐MMP, TKS4, and TKS5 Immunoexpression Between Central and Peripheral Giant Cell Granulomas

Central giant cell granuloma (CGCG) is a benign and locally confined osteolytic lesion that occasionally exhibits aggressive behavior, while the peripheral giant cell granuloma (PGCG) is a reactive lesion with localized proliferation. Both lesions present similar histological characteristics. To compare the immunoexpression of the main invadopodia-related proteins in CGCG and PGCG in the jaws. 30 CGCG and 12 PGCG biopsied at the oral and maxillofacial pathology departments of three universities were evaluated. The expression of cortactin, MT1-MMP, TKS4, and TKS5, in spindle-shaped and polygonal mononuclear cells (SPMC) and multinucleated giant cells (MGC) was observed through immunohistochemistry, and the labeled areas were semi-automatically detected by an image processing software equipped with an efficient color detection plugin. The percentages of labeled areas in MGC and SPMC for both lesions were statistically compared at a significance level of p < 0.05. The expressions of all evaluated proteins in MGC were significantly higher for CGCG than PGCG (p < 0.05). Regarding SPMC, only the expressions of cortactin and TKS5 were significantly higher expressed in CGCG than in PGCG (p < 0.05). The significantly higher expressions of cortactin (MGC, SPMC), TKS4 (MGC), TKS5 (MGC, SPMC), and MT1-MMP (MGC) in CGCG may partially explain its greater invasiveness/aggressiveness.