title: Human ameloblastoma tumors express the amelogenin gene.
abstract: Instructive signals are responsible for the regulation of the expression of gene products characteristic of many cell lineages during normal development and potentially during neoplasia. The odontogenic origin of ameloblastomas is based largely on the similarity in histologic appearance between the tumor and the developing tooth organ. A pathognomonic pattern for odontogenic tissue-specific gene expression in ameloblastomas has not been previously shown. In these studies, the gene expression parameters for human ameloblastomas have been characterized with the techniques of messenger RNA phenotyping in combination with Northern and in situ hybridization analysis of messenger RNA. The results of these studies confirm that amelogenin, a gene transcribed solely by differentiated ameloblasts, was expressed by epithelial cells from human ameloblastomas. This observation suggests that the instructive signals required for ameloblast differentiation are shared during normal development and tumorigenesis of odontogenic epithelium.
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Sciences USC, School of Dentistry, Los Angeles.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Snead
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Melrose
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stenman
mesh_terms: D000564:Ameloblastoma / Q000235:genetics*; D053523:Amelogenin; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D003746:Dental Enamel Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D053523:Amelogenin; D003746:Dental Enamel Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm