Immunohistochemical analysis of a dentinogenic ghost cell tumour

A dentinogenic ghost cell tumour in an 80-year-old male patient is presente d. It is an extremely rare tumour and only 10 cases have been reported in t he English literature. The lesion showed odontogenic epithelium, ghost cell s, dentinoid, giant cells. The immunohistochemical analysis for Mib-1 and b cl-2 showed a strong positivity of the cells of the odontogenic epithelium, while with p53 only a rare positivity was observed. Completely negative we re the ghost cells, giant cells and dentinoid material. In this tumour the cells expressing Mib-1 and bcl-2 could be the cells that proliferate, and t hat could undergo malignant transformation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.