Alterations of Serum Lipid Profile Patterns in Oral Lichen Planus Patients: A Case–Control Study

BACKGROUND: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic disease of established immune-mediated pathogenesis. It most commonly, protractedly, and persistently involves the mucosa of the oral cavity. Antigen-specific and nonspecific mechanisms play a role in its pathogenesis, leading to T-cell accumulation in superficial lamina propria, intraepithelial T-cell migration, and keratinocyte apoptosis in OLP. Previous studies have indicated the possibility of serum lipid derangement in chronic inflammatory diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and psoriasis, which in turn results in elevated cardiovascular disease risk. Inflammation causes disturbances in lipid metabolism such as decrease in high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and increase in very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL)-cholesterol and hypertriglyceridemia due to direct effect on T-cell responses. Prolonged dyslipidemia, due to chronic inflammatory condition, enhances the formation of atherosclerotic plaques and thereby augments the risk of cardiovascular disease in such patients. With this background, a possible correlation between OLP and serum lipid level derangement can be anticipated. Hence, this study was taken up to probe into an association between the two. AIMS: To determine and compare the serum lipid levels in OLP patients and healthy controls, to inquire into the possible association of OLP with alterations in serum lipid profile patterns, and to determine if the clinical characteristics of OLP differed with alterations in serum lipid profile patterns. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Sixty patients comprising 30 cases and 30 controls were enrolled for the study. Thirty cases of clinically and pathologically diagnosed OLP and 30 age- and sex-matched controls were subjected to blood examination for the assessment of serum lipid level, i.e., HDL, LDL, VLDL, and triglyceride. The obtained data were compared with standard values to assess any alterations of the serum lipid levels. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Cramer's V-test was performed for all the tests to measure association between two nominal variables. A P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Dyslipidemia was observed in 13 (46.67%) cases as against 7 (23.33%) controls. Thus, a significant number of cases were found to have an associated serum dyslipidemia. However, pertaining to individual serum lipid levels in cases and controls, the association was found to be statistically insignificant. CONCLUSIONS: The current study suggested an evident association between dyslipidemia and OLP. We recommend imminent studies on a larger population to additionally substantiate a positive association between the two.