BACKGROUND: Squamous odontogenic tumor (SOT) is a rare benign odontogenic epithelial neoplasm. A slow-growing painless expansive swelling is the common presenting symptom. Histopathologically, SOT can be easily misdiagnosed as an acanthomatous ameloblastoma. Although Notch receptors and ligands have been shown to play a role in cell fate decisions in ameloblastomas, the role of these cell signaling molecules in SOT is unknown.
METHODS: This paper describes a case of SOT affecting the anterior mandible of a 10-year-old Indian female. The patient was treated by local surgical excision and there has been no follow-up clinical record of recurrence 5 years after primary treatment. Histo?pathological examination revealed a solid, locally-infiltrative neoplasm composed of bland-looking squamatoid islands scattered in a mature fibrous connective tissue stroma and the diagnosis was SOT. Immunohistochemical evaluation showed positive reactivity of varying intensity in the neoplastic epithelial cells for Notch1, Notch3, Notch4, and their ligands Jagged1 and Delta1. Expression patterns showed considerable overlap. No immunoreactivity was detected for Notch2 and Jagged2.
CONCLUSIONS: Present findings suggest that Notch receptors and their ligands play differential roles in the cytodifferentiation of SOT.

OBJECTIVE: An analysis of 80 British parent-offspring trios by Wei and Hemmings in 2000 revealed thre1e out of five markers within the NOTCH4 locus to be strongly associated with schizophrenia. In our present study, we have examined NOTCH4 markers in large samples of German and Palestinian-Arab origin.
METHODS: Our study population comprised a German case-control sample (n=512 schizophrenia patients and n=232 controls) and two independent parent-offspring trio samples of German (n=159 trios) and Palestinian-Arab (n=208 trios) descent. We examined a total of ten single nucleotide polymorphisms within the NOTCH4 locus and the adjacent loci, spanning a region of approximately 100 kb.
RESULTS: Neither single marker nor haplotype analyses showed association with schizophrenia. In addition, analyses of the German case-control and trio samples revealed no significant association between NOTCH4 polymorphisms and early-onset schizophrenia.
CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that NOTCH4 is unlikely to play a major role in the genetic predisposition to schizophrenia in the German or the Palestinian-Arab population.

Recently a strong positive association between schizophrenia and Notch4 has been reported. Both individual markers and haplotypes showed association with the disease, with five markers (three microsatellites and two SNPs) being tested. In order to test this finding we genotyped these markers in the Han Chinese population using a sample of 544 cases and 621 controls as well as >300 trios. Analysis of allele, genotype and haplotype frequencies in both samples showed no association between the markers and the disease. Our results would indicate that a significant role for the Notch4 gene in schizophrenia can be ruled out in the Han Chinese. However, similar studies are necessary in the Caucasian population as linkage disequilibrium arrangements and founder effects may differ between these two populations.