Applications of Immunohistochemistry in Oral Pathology

The diagnosis of numerous lesions is essentially based on the microscopic study of cells and tissues. Hematoxylin and eosin staining is an established and age-old, gold standard procedure for diagnosing all histopathological tissues. Despite this, H & E sections are undoubtedly insufficient at a diagnostic level when one engages in an etiologic, histogenetic or pathogenetic search, leading to invariable exploration for additional techniques. In the era when advanced immunologic and molecular techniques are used for the diagnosis of disease and for its classification, pathologist relying entirely on the examination of tissue sections stained by histochemical methods is gradually being replaced. One such procedure is immunohistochemistry which has revolutionized the field of surgical pathology during the past 50 years. A variety of markers are developed which are tissue/ organ-specific like epithelial markers, lymphoid markers, and vascular markers, and are used successfully as diagnostic and prognostic markers of diseases.