Comparative Study of Number and Distribution of IgG(+) Cells in Oral Lichen Planus and Oral Lichenoid Lesions

BACKGROUND: Oral lichen planus is a common mucocutaneous disorder with unknown etiology. While current data suggest that oral lichen planus is a cell-mediated disease, differential diagnosis of this disease and oral lichenoid lesions is very problematic, both clinically and histopathologically. This study aimed to compare immunohistochemical features of these similar diseases. METHODS: This was a descriptive-analytic study in which formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue sections of 30 oral lichen planus and 30 oral lichenoid lesions were immunohistochemically analyzed for number and distribution of IgG(+) cells. A standard biotin-streptavidin procedure after antigen retrieval was used. Data were analyzed in SPSS software using Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: There were some significant differences in distribution of IgG (+)cells among different locations in oral lichen planus and also in oral lichenoid lesions separately; but the differences between distribution of IgG(+) cells between the two groups of oral lichen planus and oral lichenoid lesions were not significant. CONCLUSION: There was no significant difference in number and distribution of IgG(+) cells between the two groups. So, this study can suggest that location of IgG is similar in samples of oral lichen planus and oral lichenoid lesions and consequently, this marker cannot help us differentiate them from each other. Other markers can be analyzed in further studies in order to find an appropriate distinguisher between the two lesions.