Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is characterized by abnormal collagen metabolism in the submucosal connective tissue.Its influence on the overlying epithelium is not known but about 14% of OSMF cases undergo malignant transformation to Squamous cell carcinoma indicating an association with abnormality of the epithelium. Here in our study we have defined the keratin expression profile, by immunohistochemistry and quantitative image analysis, using anti-keratin monoclonal antibody (CK 17) on 30 OSMF samples and on 10 normal mucous membrane samples. The statistical analysis was done using Chi- square test and the p - value was (p < 0.02) was statistically significant.All the normal cases showed moderate staining intensity in the basal layer and mild staining intensity in the suprabasal layer which was different from that of the OSMF cases.When observed with quantitative image analysis OSMF expressed more number of positive cells when compared to that of the normal mucosal.This altered keratinocyte phenotype in OSMF indicates a potential to be used as a surrogate markers of malignant transformation