ABSTRACT
Oral lichen planus is an autoimmune inflammatory disease. Tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-alpha] is an important cytokine with a large number of biological effects which is implicated in the pathogenesis of the disease. The present study was conducted to measure and compare the level of TNF-alpha in sera and saliva of patients with OLP. The study included 30 patients suffering from OLP. They were divided into 2 groups: erosive OLP [15 patients] and reticular OLP [15 patients]. The study also included 10 ages and sex matched healthy subjects as control group. TNF-alpha was measured in sera and saliva by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay method
Results: TNF -alpha in sera of OLP patients was statistically higher than in control group [6.39 +/- 1.82 pg/ml compared to 2.99 +/- 0.52 pg/ml, P < 0.0001]. Also TNF-alpha in sera of erosive OLP was statistically higher than in sera of reticular OLP [7.87 +/- 1.16 Pg/ml compared to 4.90 +/- 0.90 pg/ml, P <0.0001] and TNF-alpha in erosive or reticular OLP was significantly higher than in the control group [P < 0.0001]. Regarding salivary TNF-alpha the study showed that salivary TNF-alpha in OLP patients was statistically higher than in the control group [28.20 +/- 5.00 pg/ml compared to 6.91 +/- 0.98 pg/ml, P < 0.0001]. The study also showed that salivary TNF-alpha was statistically higher in erosive type than in reticular type and each of them was higher than the control group [31.75 +/- 3.75 pg/ml in erosive type, 24.56 +/- 3.15 pg/ml in reticular type and 6.91 +/- 0.98 pg/ml in the control group, P = < 0.0001 in all]. The study also showed that a positive correlation was present between salivary and serum TNF-alpha, and salivary TNF-alpha was always higher than serum TNF-alpha
Conclusion: salivary TNF-alpha is a non-invasive more sensitive technique that can be used to detect disease activity and monitor the therapeutic response in OLP