Abstract

FLORIBEL CEDENO, B¹  and  TONINO², Paola. Expresión de laminina en la microvasculatura de lesiones premalignas y malignas de la mucosa bucal. Acta odontol. venez [online]. 2005, vol.43, n.3, pp.224-228. ISSN 0001-6365.

Abstract Premalignant and malignant lesions in the oral mucosa represent a model for the study of tumoral progression. The degradation of the extracellular matrix and basement membrane components during neoplastic process can activate molecules that act as promoters or suppressors of tumoral angiogenesis. Laminin is the most abundant structural glycoprotein of basement membrane, composed by three polypeptides subunits α, β, and γ, disulfide-bonded in a cruciform structure. Laminin in the vascular basement membrane play a crucial role in the cancer progression. In the present study we determined the laminin expression in the vascular basement membrane, in biopsies with differents grade of dysplasia and squamous carcinomas. Results revealed an increase in the expression of laminin in the epithelial and tumoral cells, as well as morphologic alterations in the blood vessels with the tumoral progression. These findings suggest changes at structural and functional level that could be related with the process of angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis

Keywords : laminin,; blood vessels; oral mucosa; tumor; progresión; immunohistochemistry.