الفهرس Only 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 102 |  |  |
| | | from | 102 | | |
Abstract
Lichen planus (LP) is relatively common inflammatory dermatoses that are characterized by distinctive violaceous, polygonal, flat topped pruritic papules displaying a lace-like pattern of white lines on their surfaces. It usually occurs in middle aged adults and can involve both skin and mucous membranes; it may also affect hair and nails. Its course is generally self limited for a period of several months to years, but it may be indefinitely. The prevalence of lichen planus is unknown. Current estimates place the figure at less than 1% of the populace.
There are several opinions and approaches to the etiopathogenesis of LP. Immunologic mechanisms almost certainly mediate its development. T-cell-mediated immunity plays a major role in triggering the clinical expression of the disease .The cytokines that are produced by lymphocytes also play an important role in the development of LP.
Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is a pleiotropic inflammatory cytokine that is produced by many different cell types. It is believed to play either beneficial (protective) or deleterious (pathologic) role in inflammation and immunologic reactions, depending on timing, target cell and magnitude of the inflammatory reaction.
It is well known that LP is a T-cell-mediated disease. One of the T-cell-mediated cytokines including TNF-α may have a pathogenetic importance in LP.
Many studies had been done all over the world to assess the role of different cytokines in the development of lichen planus lesions. There were limited studies about the role of different cytokines in the development of lichen planus lesions in Egyptian population, so the aim of this study was thus to assess the role of serum tumor necrosis factor alpha in the pathogenesis of lichen planus in a sample of Egyptian population suffering from LP.
This study was conducted on thirty patients with active lichen planus lesions either cutaneous and/or oral who were randomly selected from the Dermatology Outpatient Clinic of Alexandria Main University Hospital and Oral Medicine Clinic of the Faculty of Dentistry in Alexandria University and did not receive treatment for the past three months at least (group I), the control group included ten healthy age and sex matched volunteers (group II). All patients and control were subjected .