FOXP3 T regulatory cells in lesions of oral lichen planus correlated with disease activity.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between the number of FOXP3(+) T cell in lesions and the disease activity of patients with oral lichen planus (OLP).


METHODS
The expression of FOXP3 was investigated using immunohistochemical staining and real-time RT-PCR in 23 OLP lesions and 12 controls. Changes of FOXP3(+) Treg in peripheral blood from three patients' pre and post-treatment were assessed using flow cytometry.


RESULTS
Few FOXP3(+) cells were detected in controls, but an increased number of FOXP3(+) cells were observed in lesions (n = 20, 40.99 +/- 24.68 cells per high-power field - hpf). Furthermore, the frequency of FOXP3(+) Treg in reticular OLP (n = 7, 63.6 +/- 23.2 cells per hpf) was significantly higher than that in erythematous/erosive OLP (n = 13, 28.8 +/- 16.8 cells per hpf, P = 0.001). In addition, negative correlation was found between the number of FOXP3(+) Treg and disease activity (correlation oefficient = -0.557, P = 0.013). The proportion of FOXP3(+) Treg showed remarkable increase in peripheral blood from patients after treatment (1.39 +/- 0.71%vs 4.91 +/- 1.59%).


CONCLUSIONS
These data indicated that FOXP3(+) Treg were involved in the pathogenesis of OLP and correlated with disease's subtype and activity.
Tao
X-a
XA
Department of Oral Medicine, Guanghua School of Stomatology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Xia
J
J
Chen
X-b
XB
Wang
H
H
Dai
Y-h
YH
Rhodus
N L
NL
Cheng
B
B
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D017676:Lichen Planus, Oral / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
C418974:FOXP3 protein, human; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors