A Comparative Study on the Prevalence of HPV16 Virus in Oral Lichen Planusand Oral Lichenoid Lesions Using PCR Technique

Oral lichen planus (OLP) and oral lichenoid lesion (OLL) have similar clinical andhistopathological features but are with different etiology and treatment. Therefore, their differentiatingis of interest. The role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in OLP development has been reported in previousstudies, but its role in development of OLLs has not been investigated. Therefore, the present study aimsto investigate the presence of HPV16 in OLL and OLP.

This retrospective study was performed on 21 paraffin blocks of OLP and 15paraffin blocks of OLL collected from the archive section of the Department of Pathology, Faculty ofDentistry, Islamic Azad University, Khorasgan branch in Isfahan, Iran in 2017. For the confirmation of DNAextraction from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks, β-globin gene expression was examinedusing The samples were tested for the presence of HPV16 genome by PCR. Data were analyzed using chisquare,Fisher’s exact test, and independent t-test.

The prevalence of HPV16 was 0% in the OLP group and 6.7% (1 out of 15) in the OLL group.Fisher’s exact test did not show a significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05).

There is no significant association between HPV16 infection and having OLL and OLP. Furtherstudies with more samples are recommended.