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. 2020 Jan 2;33(6):1033–1040. doi: 10.1038/s41379-019-0444-0

Fig. 4. CK13 and CK17 staining of healthy oral mucosa and oral leukoplakia.

Fig. 4

Example of a healthy oral mucosa biopsy specimen stained for CK13 (a) and CK17 (b) and an oral leukoplakia biopsy specimen stained for CK13 (c) and CK17 (d). While normal epithelium stains strongly for CK13 and not for CK17, disturbance of epithelial balance is often accompanied by loss of CK13 and gain of CK17 expression. The shown example is an oral leukoplakia sample with differentiated dysplasia, but no classic dysplasia. Although the keratin staining is in itself not pathognomonic for differentiated dysplasia, it is immensely helpful in assessing the range and heterogeneity of the lesion. CK13 keratin 13, CK17 keratin 17.