A comparative study of clinicopathological and immunohistochemical expression of CD1a, RANK and RANKL in langerhans cell histiocytosis of jaw and skull lesions

الملخص EN

Background: Langerhans' cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a group of conditions affecting the reticuloendothelial system.

It includes Letterer-Siwe disease, Hand-Schuller-Christian disease and eosinophilic granuloma and most often presents in childhood.

Materials and methods: Twenty-five cases of LCH were diagnosed histologically and confirmed by CD1a antibody and assessed immunohistochemically using anti-RANKL and anti-RANK antibodies to evaluate osteoclastogenic mechanism.

Results: Regarding jaw cases, there was a significant correlation between CD1a and RANK (P=0.016).

While in the skull, highly significant correlation existed between RANK and RANKL (p=0.001).

Among the sites, there was no statistically significant difference found for each the immunohistochemical markers used.

Conclusion: LCH of jaws and skull bear similar osteoclastogenic mechanism when quantified with RANK and RANKL immunostaining respectively.

With a significant correlation between CD1a and RANK for jaw cases, while in the skull lesions, there was a high significant correlation between RANK and RANKL.