Method: Changes of T lymphocyte phenotype in peripheral blood from 21 patients with OLP ( mean age of 61.8± 11.2 ) and 7 healthy subjects (age range 61.14± 4.41) without sign of mucosal lesions were assessed using flow cytometry. Patients with OLP were classified into 2 groups:group A( n=11)white reticular and white plaque forms not erosive; group B (n= 10) atrophic and /or erosive lesions. The Shapiro–Wilk test was used to test the data distribution. ANOVA for indipendent samples with post hoc Tukey test (P<.05) was performed to evaluate the signifiance of the comparisons between the three groups.
Result: No statistically significant differences were observed between the OLP group and control group regarding cytotoxic/suppressor T-cells (CD3+ and CD8+), T helper cells (CD4+) and CD56+. The NK-cell level (CD16+) and CD57+ ratio was significantly increased in the group B compared with healthy patients. The percentage of Regulatory T-cells was found to be significantly decreased in patients of group A and B.
Conclusion: The observations reported in this small pilot study suggest that immunological system disfunction in OLP lesions might involve also the lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood.