Diagnostic And Histogenetic Significance Of S 100 Protein In Oral Diseases

S-100 protein, although originally isolated from brain tissue, has since been shown to be present in a wide variety of tissues and cell types. S 100 protein is present in cytoplasm and nucleoplasms of a wide array of cells. It’s role in cell functioning is not clearly understood. S 100 protein is present in number of tumours occurring in maxillofacial region., including chondroid tumours, granular cell tumours, schwannomas, oral mucosal melanomas, salivary gland tumours, histiocytosis and some odontogenic tumours also. S 100 protein has been used to study the histogenesis of certain tumours such as osseous and chondroid tumours and salivary gland tumours such as pleomoerphic adenoma. A review of the role of S 100 protein in diagnosis and histogenesis of certain oral and maxillofacial tumours is done here