title: Basement membrane changes in oral lichen planus.
abstract: In recent years ultrastructural morphological alterations in the basement membrane have been observed in a number of mucocutaneous diseases. Varying degrees of fragmentation and branching are seen, but such changes are not specific to any disease. In this respect, oral lichen planus has been studied extensively and clear correlations observed between the clinical type of lesion and type of basement membrane change. The nature of these changes has been studied using different immunohistochemical methods, including immunoelectron microscopy, and immunoreactivity to various basement membrane components has been noted even in the branches of the subbasal basement membrane. Thus these changes probably reflect various proliferative or degenerative changes in basal cells. Using the same technique the topographical distribution of T cell subsets and their relationship to the basement membrane pathology have been studied. Inflammation topography, analysis of lymphocyte differentiation markers, signs of CD8+ cell activation and association of CD8+ cells with mononuclear phagocytes all suggest that the local inflammatory cells are active participants in the local pathogenetic process.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jungell
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Konttinen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malmström
mesh_terms: D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008010:Lichen Planus / Q000473:pathology*; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes