Angiogenesis of Oral Lichen Planus: A possible pathogenetic mechanism

ABSTRACT

Objective: Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disease with an autoimmune inflammatory pathogenesis.The aim of the research is to compare the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and adhesion ofmolecules in the biopsy samples of patients affected by OLP, in order to research the presence of the angiogeneticphenomenon and to understand its pathogenetic mechanism. Materials and Methods: Thirty OLP patients andthirty healthy subjects were enrolled in a study. The immunohistochemical analysis of the VEGF and vascularendothelialadhesion molecules was carried out by means of primary antibodies and anti-CD34, anti-VEGF, anti-CD106 antigen (VCAM-1) and anti-CD54 antigen (ICAM-1). The statistical significance of the differences waschecked with the Mann-Whitney test (MW test). The level of significance was set to P<0.001. Data analysis wascarried out with StatView 5.0.1 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC). Results: The results reveal the presence of a significantangiogenesis in OLP patients for the VEGF, CD34, CD106 and CD54 (P < 0.001).. The number of vesselsin the biopsies of the patients with OLP (mean±SD: 21.27±4.85), compared with the healthy subjects (mean±SD:4.74±0.97) was significantly more (Mann-Whitney test, P < 0.001). The positive expression rate of VEGF, CD34,VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 in oral lichen samples was 64.2%, 54.3%, 32.5% and 29.7%, respectively. Isolated endothelialcells and newly-formed micro-vessels and endothelial cells with high-immune-positivity to the antibodiesanti-ICAM-1 and anti-VCAM-1 were observed. Conclusions: The results of our immunohistochemical researchshow that a significant neoangiogenesis occurs in oral lichen planus (AU)