The Differential Diagnosis of Oral Borderline Malignancies Using Contrastive Immunohistochemical Profiles Between CK 13 and CK 17

As differential diagnosis of between oral epithelial dysplasia and oral intraepithelial neoplasia is difficult, it is essential to precise treatment for pre-cancer lesions in oral cavity.  The aim of this study was to investigate the expression patterns of cytokeratins (CKS) in oral epithelial dysplasia and oral intraepithelial neoplasia, to identify useful immunostaining diagnostic markers. Immunoexpression of CK13, Ck17 and MIB-1 were investigated in 44 clinical leukoplakia specimens in our hospital. Most mild dysplasia specimens were CK13+ and CK17-.  In moderate dysplasia, CK13 expression tended to be lower and CK17 expression tended to be higher than in mild dysplasia. In intraepithelial neoplasia, expression of MIB-1 tended to be higher than in dysplasia. These results indicate that CK13 expression can be used to detect early epithelial dysplasia, and that CK17 expression are useful for detecting neoplastic changes, also high rates expression of MIB-1 are supportive for those diagnosis.

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