Assessment of Salivary Sialic Acid in Patients with Oral Lichen Planus and Healthy Individuals

Background Oral Lichen planus (OLP) is a T-cell mediated chronic inflammatory oral mucosal disease of unknown etiology. Sialic acid is a diverse family of sugar units with a ninecarbon backbone that are typically found attached to the outermost ends of these chains. In inflammatory skin diseases, the infiltration of skin by lymphocytes is mediated via recognition of sialic acid containing molecules that act as ligands for the selectins the subsequent recruitment of innate immune cells into the area of inflammation is also mediated by the selectins. Purpose To study salivary sialic acid as anti-inflammatory in OLP patients and healthy subjects. Methods Twenty five patients with OLP were enrolled in this study. Age, gender, occupation, smoking status (smokers or non-smokers), lesion types, duration, location and size were recorded for each patient. After an oral examination, salivary samples were collected and flow rates (ml/min) were recorded. The collected samples were centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes, the clear supernatants were separated and stored frozen at (-20 c) until analysis. Then salivary sialic acid was analyzed using thiobarbituric acid reagent (Warren method). Results Twenty -five patients were with OLP (14 were females and 11 were males). The mean age was 48.3 years with an age range of 30-60 years. The control group consisted of 35 healthy subjects (20 were females and 15 were males) with an age range of 38-60 years and a mean of 48.2 years. Regarding salivary sialic acid, the present study showed a significant difference between control and OLP patients, OLP patients showed higher salivary sialic acid levels (85.34 mg/dl compared to control group (60.36 mg/dl) p value0.01. .