Serum interleukin-6 level is a useful marker in evaluating therapeutic effects of levamisole and Chinese medicinal herbs on patients with oral lichen planus

• Published in: Journal of oral pathology & medicine 2002-04, Vol.31 (4), p.196-203
• Main Authors: Sun, Andy, Chia, Jean-San, Chang, Yu-Fong, Chiang, Chun-Pin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adjuvants, Immunologic - therapeutic use; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biological and medical sciences; Biomarkers - blood; Chinese medicinal herbs; Dentistry; Drug Combinations; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - therapeutic use; Ent. Stomatology; Erythema Multiforme - blood; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Interleukin-6; Interleukin-6 - blood; levamisole; Levamisole - therapeutic use; Lichen Planus, Oral - blood; Lichen Planus, Oral - classification; Lichen Planus, Oral - drug therapy; Luminescent Measurements; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Mouth Diseases - blood; Mouth Mucosa - injuries; Non tumoral diseases; oral lichen planus; Oral Submucous Fibrosis - blood; Oral Ulcer - blood; Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology; Pemphigus - blood; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Phytotherapy; Sjogren's Syndrome - blood; Statistics as Topic; Upper respiratory tract, upper alimentary tract, paranasal sinuses, salivary glands: diseases, semeiology
• ISSN: 0904-2512; 1600-0714
• DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0714.2002.310402.x

Background: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a T cell‐mediated inflammatory disease. Interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) is a pro‐inflammatory cytokine that has effects on cellular and humoral immunities. Previous studies have shown that keratinocytes and tissue‐infiltrating mononuclear cells from OLP lesions can secrete IL‐6. In some OLP patients, the high serum IL‐6 levels are reduced after treatment, suggesting that IL‐6 may be a useful marker in evaluating therapeutic effects and in monitoring the disease status of OLP. Methods: In this study, we used a solid phase, two‐site sequential chemiluminescent immunometric assay to determine the baseline serum levels of IL‐6 in a group of 180 patients with erosive OLP (EOLP), nonerosive OLP (NEOLP), erythema multiforme (EM), traumatic ulcers (TU), oral submucous fibrosis (OSF), pemphigus vulgaris (PV), or Sjögren's syndrome (SS), and in 77 normal control subjects. Some OLP patients were treated with levamisole plus Chinese medicinal herbs or levamisole only for 0.5–5.5 months and their serum IL‐6 levels were measured after treatment. Results: We found that approximately 99% of the normal control subjects and the patients with EM, TU, or OSF had a normal serum IL‐6 level less than 5.0 pg/ml. However, 15% (22/149) OLP patients, 15% (20/136) EOLP patients, 20% (5/25) major type EOLP patients, 14% (15/111) minor type EOLP patients, 15% (2/13) NEOLP patients, 14% (1/7) EM patients, 43% (3/7) PV patients, and 100% (6/6) SS patients had a serum IL‐6 level greater than 5.0 pg/ml. The mean serum IL‐6 level in patients with OLP (3.4 ± 3.1 pg/ml, P