oxidatve stress in oral lichen planus and oral lichenoid reactions

Oxidative stress has been implicated in the progression of several diseases ranging from mild inflammation to several inflammatory acute immune diseases to grave disease process like cancer.The steady state levels, or extent of accumulation of oxidation products in tissues and plasma or the changes in the antioxidant status are commonly used as measures of increased oxidative stress. In fact, the measurement of lipid peroxides, conjugated dienes, and markers of nitrative DNA damage are considered to be the cornerstone of the assessment of oxidative damage in vivo. Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) is an inflammatory disease of unknown etiology while Oral Lichenoid Reaction (OLR) is a condition mimicking OLP. As these conditions are exposed to oxidative stress, they could release reactive oxygen species (ROS) which are implicated in the pathogenesis of a plethora of inflammatory conditions to lethal diseases. We evaluated and compared the levels of a series of oxidative stress markers in patients with OLP and OLR with that of normal controls and tried to identify the role of these oxidative stress markers in these conditions.