Assessment of IL-16 From Peripheral Blood in Patients with Oral Lichen Planus

RATIONALE: Migration of effector T-lymphocytes and macrophages from peripheral blood into the oral mucosa of patients with oral lichen planus requires activation of specific chemokine receptors on these cells. Some cytokines regulate cellular migration including IL-16 which recruits CD4 + T-lymphocytes and monocytes from blood into zones of inflammation.

METHODS: 97 patients were studied including 35 with erosive oral lichen planus, 32 with non-erosive oral lichen planus and 30 healthy control subjects. The level of IL-16 was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using reagents from “Immunotech” (France).

RESULTS: Patients with erosive oral lichen planus in the acute (959.3±11.3 pg/ml) and chronic (828.3±13.1 pg/ml) stage had statistically greater levels of IL-16 compared to the control group (348.5±12.3 pg/ml, p<0.05). In patients with non-erosive oral lichen planus, levels of IL-16 were also greater than normal. There were no significant differences between the values of IL-16 in acute (448.6 ± 11.2 pg / ml) and in chronic stages (386.3±11.1 pg/ml) of disease.

CONCLUSIONS: Acute relapse and chronic stages of oral lichen planus are characterized by significant increases in the concentration of IL-16 in the blood, which supports the inflammatory process enhancing cell migration into sites of inflammation.