Morphological analysis of cell cannibalism: An auxiliary tool in the prediction of central giant cell granuloma clinical behavior

Caio César da Silva Barros; Luiz Miguel da Rocha Santos; Mara Luana Batista Severo; Márcia Cristina da Costa Miguel; Cristiane Helena Squarize; Éricka Janine Dantas da Silveira

doi:10.1016/j.acthis.2023.152091

Morphological analysis of cell cannibalism: An auxiliary tool in the prediction of central giant cell granuloma clinical behavior

Acta Histochem. 2023 Oct;125(7):152091. doi: 10.1016/j.acthis.2023.152091. Epub 2023 Aug 30.

Authors

Caio César da Silva Barros¹, Luiz Miguel da Rocha Santos², Mara Luana Batista Severo³, Márcia Cristina da Costa Miguel³, Cristiane Helena Squarize⁴, Éricka Janine Dantas da Silveira⁵

Affiliations

¹ Postgraduate Program in Dental Sciences, Oral Pathology and Medicine, Department of Dentistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil; Laboratory of Epithelial Biology, Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
² Department of Dentistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil.
³ Postgraduate Program in Dental Sciences, Oral Pathology and Medicine, Department of Dentistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil.
⁴ Laboratory of Epithelial Biology, Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
⁵ Postgraduate Program in Dental Sciences, Oral Pathology and Medicine, Department of Dentistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil. Electronic address: ericka_janine@yahoo.com.br.

PMID: 37657202
DOI: 10.1016/j.acthis.2023.152091

Abstract

Central giant cell granuloma (CGCG) is a benign jaw lesion with variable clinical behavior. Cell cannibalism is a cellular process associated with aggressiveness and invasion in malignant neoplasms. Here, we morphologically investigated cell cannibalism as an auxiliary method to predict CGCG clinical behavior. Cell cannibalism was quantitatively evaluated in 19 cases of peripheral giant cell granuloma (PGCG), 38 cases of CGCG (non-aggressive and aggressive), and 19 cases of giant cell tumor of bone (GCT) stained with hematoxylin and eosin. T-test was performed to assess the differences between the variables analyzed (p ≤ 0.05). Cell cannibalism was identified in 21% of non-aggressive CGCGs and 68.4% of aggressive CGCGs. A significantly higher amount of cannibal multinucleated giant cells (CMGC) was observed in aggressive CGCG compared to PGCG and non-aggressive CGCG (p = 0.042; p = 0.044, respectively). There were no significant differences in the CMGC index between non-aggressive CGCG and PGCG (p = 0.858) and between aggressive CGCG and GCT (p = 0.069). CGGC cases that exhibited rapid growth and tooth displacement and/or root resorption had a higher amount of CMGC (p = 0.035; p = 0.041, respectively). Cell cannibalism can be identified in CGCG through routine anatomopathological examination. The quantification of CMGC can help to predict the clinical behavior of central giant cell granuloma.

Keywords: Cell-in-cell formation; Giant cell granuloma; Giant cell tumor; Giant cells.