THE IMPACT OF IMMUNOTHERAPEUTIC G2 VACCINE ON TREATMENT OF ORAL LICHEN PLANUS

Statement of Problem: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a cell-mediated immune condition for which several topical and systemic treatments are available. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of G2 vaccine on treatment of OLP. Materials and Methods: Ten OLP patients (7 females, 3 males) were enrolled in this study. Diagnosis of OLP was based on the clinical criteria and histological study. The patients received subcutaneous injection of 0.4 cc of G2 vaccine, once a week for twelve weeks. Oral symptoms before and after treatment were assessed by visual analogue scale. The data were analyzed, using student's t-test. Results: In this study, improvement in the lesion size was observed in the majority of the patients (good for 3 and poor for 5) while two patients showed no changes and no complete response was observed. The patients' symptoms (pain / burning) decreased significantly ( p =0.01). The CD4+ count and CD4+/CD8+ ratio was increased after therapy. Conclusion: The present study indicated that the patients’ symptoms were decreased simultaneously with the increase in CD4+counts and rise in CD4+/CD8+ ratio after inoculation of G2 vaccine. The findings suggest further studies with more sample size and also assessment of more types of cytokines for evaluation of the efficacy of G2 vaccine.