Lichenoid dysplasia is not a distinct pathological entity.

Objectives: Oral Lichenoid Dysplasia (OLD) is a controversial histological term applied to lesions that display features of oral lichen planus (OLP) and oral epithelial dysplasia (OED). In this study we investigated the molecular profiles of OLD, OLP and OED to determine whether OLD exists as a distinct pathological entity.

Materials And Methods: Samples from patients presenting with lesions diagnosed histologically as OLP, OLD or OED underwent RNA sequencing followed by differential gene expression, functional enrichment and network analysis, sparse partial least squares discriminant analysis, and immune cell phenotypic estimation.