The Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Oral Lichen Planus in an Ethnic Chinese Cohort of 232 Patients

AIM: Oral lichen planush (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disease, and has been reported to have a correlation with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in some regional investigations. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of HCV in patients with oral lichen planus in an ethnic Chinese cohort. METHODOLOGY: The antibody of HCV infection was detected by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Moreover, the clinical characteristics of whole the cohort have also been studied, such as the gender, age, clinical type, habits and social factors. RESULTS: Of all 232 patients, the antibody of HCV infection was detected positive in 4 patients (1.72%) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. It was lower than that in control group of 2.5%, but not significant (P=0.309). The positive rate of HCV antibody in the erosive type ones (4.2%) was higher than that in the reticular type ones (1.0%), but this difference was proved to be not significant (P=0.389). The clinical characteristics of whole cohort, such as the gender, age, clinical type, habits and social factors, showed the outcome obtained in the present study were similar to thao of our previous study. CONCLUSION: HCV may play no etiological role in oral lichen planus in ethnic Chinese OLP patients.