Odontogenic carcinoma: a functional genomic comparison with oral mucosal squamous cell carcinoma

Intraosseous squamous cell carcinomas of the mandible arise de novo or secondary to a tumor transformed cyst epithelium. Current diagnostic tests frequently fail to distinguish between these tumors, leading to confusing, classification schemes. We report the functional genomic analysis of a mandibular odontogenic carcinoma. Malignant keratinocytes front the lesion were isolated using laser capture microdissection. Target sample generated from the total RNA of the LCM-procured cells was used to hybridize high-density oligonucleotide arrays. Functional genomic analysis of the odontogenic carcinoma database compared with four oral mucosal squamous cell carcinoma gene expression databases was performed. Preliminary results suggest a small subset of genes distinguish this odontogenic carcinoma from oral mucosal epidermoid carcinomas. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.