Objective: To investigate type IV collagen and C-erbB-2 expression in oral candidal leukoplakia.
Methods: 27 cases of oral candidal leukoplakia were studied by immunohistochemistry.
Results: In normal and simple hyperplastic epithelia type IV collagen was noted as brown linear staining along the basement membrane. The most obvious change in the staining pattern was that the linear staining became very thin or discontinued in dysplastic epithelia. C-erbB-2 was demonstrated in 25 cases(78%). The positive staining, as a reticular pattern, was located at cell membrane, and not correlated with epithelial dysplasia.
Conclusion: The results indicate that type IV collagen expression changed in candidal leukoplakia with epithelial dysplasia. This kind of change may be related to basement membrane destruction. The immunohistochemically expression of C-erbB-2 has no correlation with epithelial dysplasia.