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

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 (PHA) stimulation for all cytokines studied-tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha, 432.2 +/- 73.4 vs 979.8 +/- 46.3 units/ml), interleukin 2 (IL-2, 156.2 +/- 14.9 vs 572.6 +/- 12.9 pg/ml), interferon gamma (IFN gamma, 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 1 beta (IL-1 beta) and lymphotoxin (LT). In contrast, unstimulated culture supernatants showed increased TNF alpha (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 TNF alpha (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 (PMA) 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.