Alteration in peripheral blood mononuclear cell function and serum cytokines in oral lichen planus

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Abstract
Different activation parameters of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 31 patients with oral lichen planus (OLP) were examined and compared with 23 healthy donors. Impaired spontaneous (450±241 vs 1290±480 cpm) and mitogen‐induced (39580±14470 vs 67000±11810 cpm) lymphocyte blastogenesis was observed in OLP patients. Furthermore, reduced cytokine production was found after phytohemagglutinin A (PI1A) stimulation for all cytokines studied‐tumour necrosis factor α(TNFα, 432.2±73.4 vs 979.8±46.3 units/ml), interleukin 2 (IL‐2, (56.2±14.9 vs 572.6±12.9 pg/ml), interferon γ (IFNγ, 48.5±11.9 vs 82.6± 12.4 pg/ml) and interleukin 6 (IL–6. 253.6±57.7 vs 1.419.0±279.6 units/ ml)‐except for interleukin 1ß (IL–lß) and lymphotoxin (LT). In contrast, unstimulated culture supernatants showed increased TNFα (38.2±13.1 vs 8.0±0.2 units/ml), LT (10.2±2.2 units/ml vs <0.4) and IL–6 (18.5±5.6 units/ml vs <0.5) activity. Similarly, elevated concentrations of TNFα (19.6±6.3 units/ml) and IL–6(22.9±4.7 units/ml) were detected in the sera of OLP patients. Combination of PHA and phorbol myristate acetate (PM A) could restore OLP proliferative T cell response and cytokine production to the level of healthy donors, whereas exogenous recombinant human IL‐2 (rhuIL‐2) plus PMA did not seem to be an effective stimulant for OLP T cells. These results indicate an alteration in the immune condition of OLP patients and an impairment in T lymphocyte function.