The major adnexal structures of the skin,the sweat glands,regulate the body temperature.There are two types of sweat glands in the human body,the eccrine type,which produces the NaCl-rich solution in response to heat,and the apocrine type,which releases a lipid-rich secretion.1 Human sweat glands have many immunohistochemical markers which have close relationship with sweat-related diseases.2 Recently,although numerous immunohistochemical markers appeared in sweat glands,these biomarkers scattered in the oceans of literature without a systemic review for the relationship between the immunohistochemical marker and their functions in the counterparts of the sweat glands.It is important for identifying sweat gland-derived neoplasms that originate from or differentiate into the ducts or secretory elements of the sweat glands by immunohistochemical markers.Therefore,it is necessary to make a review of the immunohistochemical markers systematically.Actually,we try to classify the immunohistochemical markers of the sweat glands into four groups according to their protein characters and the functions associated with their presumed physiological counterparts of the sweat apparatus.
