A potential reciprocal emergence of regulatory T cells in oral lichen planus and pemphigus vulgaris: A meta-analysis.

Oral lichen planus (OLP) and pemphigus vulgaris (PV) are 2 common inflammatory mucocutaneous diseases of immune-based etiology. Evidence indicates regulatory T (Treg) cells maybe play a role in the pathogenesis of OLP and PV, which are caused by aberrant immune responses. In this report, 7 eligible case-control studies containing 517 OLP patients and 261 healthy controls (HC) were identified. The level of Tregs was significantly higher in OLP patients than HC (mean difference: 1.79; 95%CI: 0.99, 2.60). On the other hand, 7 eligible case-control studies containing 169 PV patients and 121 HC were identified. Conversely, the level of Tregs was significantly lower in PV patients than HC (mean difference: -2.49; 95%CI: -3.90, -1.08). Collectively, this analysis for the first time reported reciprocal emergence of Tregs in OLP and PV using meta-analysis, and provided an interesting insight into a previously undescribed the linkage of the 2 mucocutaneous diseases.