engleski

Determination of EGFR, Bcl-2 and Ki-67 in Patients With Oral Lichen Planus

Oral lichen planus (OLP) affects 1 to 2% of the population. Typically it affects middle-aged and elderly women although it can affect men, and rarely children1, 2. The cause of OLP is not known, but it is known that the OLP is mediated through T-lymphocytes to a still unknown antigen. There is about a 1% risk to cancerous change over a 10-year period3. The main problem is in identifying lesions that will actually transform into cancer. Normally, tumor markers are used to identify cancer, but in some instances they can suggest potentially malignant lesions. Therefore, we evaluated OLP lesions using immunohistochemistry markers (epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), bcl-2, Ki67) in comparison to the density of subepithelial band inflammatory infiltrate. OLP patients were divided into smokers and non-smokers. There were 15 OLP patients in smoker group (range 28-70 years) while non-smoker group included 49 OLP patients (range 21-72 years). We found that the mean age at which OLP was diagnosed is lower in OLP smokers (48.7±10.6) in comparison to the age of OLP non-smokers (55.8±11.5). Conventional hematoxylin and eosin staining showed no difference in diagnosis OLP in smoking and non-smoking group. Spearman’s correlation test for EGFR expression by itself in these two groups did not show any difference (p=0.4). Comparing EGFR, Ki67 and bcl-2 expression in squamous epithelium in relation to the density of subepithelial band inflammatory infiltrate (using semi-quantitative method ; low-1, medium-2, high-3), we found significant difference (p<0.01) between smokers and non-smokers with OLP. Immunohistochemical expression of EGFR, bcl-2 and Ki67 in squamous epithelium in relation to the density of subepithelial inflammatory infiltrate shows significant difference in OLP smokers (p=0.0005) in comparison to the OLP non-smokers. We might conclude that at the time of OLP diagnosis, smokers were younger when compared to the OLP non-smokers which can implicate the possibility of cancer development in younger age than it is statistically reported for oral carcinoma. Additional immunohistochemical analysis showed that smokers with OLP, compared to OLP non-smoker group, showed statistical significant expression of EFGR, Ki67 and bcl-2 markers in squamous epithelium in relation to the density of subepithelial band inflammatory infiltrate. These findings could contribute understanding of the carcinogenesis and pathogenesis of OLP. Additional researches on a larger sample are needed to confirm our assumption.

EGFR; Bcl-2; Ki-67; oral lichen planus

nije evidentirano