Molecular biological findings of ameloblastoma

Ameloblastoma is benign odontogenic tumours that mainly occur in the jawbone. This tumour induces aggressive invasion into the surrounding bone and has a high recurrence rate after surgery. Therefore, mandibular resection is performed in many patients with this tumour, causing aesthetic and functional problems. It is necessary to develop a novel treatment strategy for ameloblastoma, but there are currently no innovative treatments. Although our understanding of the molecular biological mechanisms of ameloblastoma is still insufficient, there have been many recent reports of new molecular biological findings on ameloblastoma. Therefore, bioactive factors that have potential for novel therapeutic methods, such as molecular targeted therapy, have been discovered in ameloblastoma. In this review, we summarize the molecular biological findings of ameloblastoma reported over several decades, focusing on factors involved in invasion into surrounding tissues and disease-specific gene mutations. We also mention the effect of the interaction between tumour cells and stromal components in ameloblastoma on tumour development.