RESUMEN
The present work was undertaken to examine c-erb-B2 oncogene expression in benign and malignant ameloblastomas. The study included 16 cases of benign [9] and malignant[7] amel-oblastomas. Benign ameloblastoma included 6 cases of follicular type and 3 cases of plexiform type. Five cases were found to be malignant ameloblastoma while 2 were ameloblastic carcinoma. The imrnunohistochemical study on the expression of c-erb-B2 using labelled strept- avidin- biotin complex method revealed expression and/or amplification in most cases. 3 cases of follicular type and 2 cases of plexiform type showed mild immune reaction The positive c-erb-B2 expression was more severe in malignant ameloblastoma and ameloblastic carcinoma cases. Thus, it was concluded that amplification and overexpression of c-erb-B2 was found to be a valuable prognostic marker as it was associated with aggressive tumor growth and malignant potential of epithelial odontogenic tumors