Consistency of color-deconvolution for analysis of image intensity of alpha smooth muscle actin-positive myofibroblasts in solid multicystic ameloblastomas

ABSTRACT

Ameloblastoma is an odontogenic tumor with a slow, locally aggressive growth pattern and multiple clinico-histologic types. The number of stromal myofibroblasts within ameloblastoma often is correlated with growth and aggressiveness. Color-deconvolution to separate different colors of immunostained tissues is a promising approach to quantifying myofibroblasts in tumors such as ameloblastoma. We investigated the reliability of the color-deconvolution method using cross-sectional design to evaluate alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA)-positive myofibroblasts in solid multicystic ameloblastoma. Formalin fixed tissues of eight cases of solid multicystic ameloblastoma were immunostained for α-SMA using the horseradish peroxidase-diaminobenzidine (HRP-DAB) method. Color-deconvolution using ImageJ software was used to quantify the staining intensity of brown DAB α-SMA stained myofibroblasts. Color-deconvoluted images of brown DAB stained tissues exhibited distinct morphological features of solid multicystic ameloblastoma with α-SMA stained myofibroblasts distributed abundantly adjacent to the ameloblastoma epithelial islands. The computed image intensity of α-SMA stained myofibroblasts was quantitatively similar among the different ameloblastoma samples. A combination of color-deconvolution and α-SMA staining of myofibroblasts is a useful diagnostic tool for evaluating histologic differentiation and growth pattern of ameloblastoma.

KEYWORDS:

• alpha smooth muscle
• ameloblastoma
• color-deconvolution
• image intensity
• immunohistochemistry
• myofibroblasts

Acknowledgment

This work was supported in part by United States Institute of International Education/the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (IIE/CIES) Fulbright scholarship awarded to S.O.A.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.