Bacterial adherence in oral lichen planus

Purpose: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is autoimmune disease with hypothesis that some strange antigen adheres on surface of epithelial cells and on that way changes the antigenes structure of epithelial cells which can result in autoimmune reaction. The aim of this study was to detect the degree of bacterial adhesion on surfaces of epithelial cells before and after antibiotic therapy and to compare the obtained results with clinical status. Methods: We took cytological smears (N=46) from OLP lesions before and after antibiotic therapy and compared them with the control group (N=30 ; cytological smears from oral mucosa in healthy subjects). The detection of bacterial adhesion has been done by Gramm staining and light microscopy. Results: Results appeared statistically different in bacterial adherence on epithelial cells before and after antibiotic therapy and in comparison with the control group (p<0.0001). The degree of bacterial adherence positively correlates with clinical status. Conclusions: These results suggest that bacterial adherence on epithelial cells can be included in pathogenetic mechanism of OLP and can induce autoimmune reaction. Relevance: Implementation of targeted antibiotic therapy in patients with OLP would reduce the degree of bacterial adherence on epithelial cells surface thus resulting in improved clinical status of patients with OLP.