Circulating immune complex studies on patients with oral lichen planus.

To investigate the role of systemic factors such as age, diabetes, and hypertension in the formation of subepithelial immune deposits in oral lichen planus (OLP) we performed circulating immune complex CIC determinations by polyethylene glycol precipitation in sera of patients with OLP, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension and in sera of healthy control subjects. We examined patients with leukoplakia as a control group with oral keratosis but no OLP. Forty percent of the OLP patients were suffering from diabetes, hypertension, or both.

The decreased antibacterial activity of oral polymorphonuclear leukocytes coincides with the occurrence of virus-carrying oral lymphocytes and epithelial cells.

Patients suffering from periodontitis or periodontosis were selected for the study. Further subdivision of these groups was based on the presence or absence of herpes and/or adenoviruses in their oral lymphocytes and epithelial cells. The phagocytic and bactericidal activities of oral leukocytes isolated from the same individuals were compared with virus carriage.