title: Elevated IL-10 concentrations in serum and saliva from patients with oral lichen planus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  IL-10 is a cytokine that plays a complex role in the control of immune responses. A case-control study was conducted to investigate the expression pattern of IL-10 in both serum and the whole unstimulated saliva from ethnic Chinese patients with oral lichen planus.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-nine Chinese patients with oral lichen planus were recruited for this study, and 41 healthy volunteers served as a control group. The levels of IL-10 and IFN-g in the serum and saliva were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The IFN-g/IL-10 ratio was calculated by direct counting.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results demonstrated an expression profile of high IL-10 level and low IFN-g level and IFN-g/IL-10 ratio in both serum and saliva from oral lichen planus patients, compared to the controls. Saliva levels of IL-10 and IFN-g were positively correlated to their serum partners. No significant difference was found among subtypes of oral lichen planus.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Elevation of IL-10 level might be involved in the pathogenesis of oral lichen planus, and saliva might be a substitute for serum to reflect the disease-related cytokine production in oral lichen planus patients.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China College of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chendu, China.
authors.forename: Hongxia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dan
authors.forename: Wenzhao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jiayi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ruiqing
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Qianming
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D044466:Asian People; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000032:analysis* / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood; D017676:Lichen Planus, Oral / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D016753:Interleukin-10; D007371:Interferon-gamma