Monocyte/High-Density Lipoprotein Ratio: An Indicator of Oxidative Stress and Disease Severity in Lichen Planus Patients

ABSTRACT
Aim: Although the etiopathogenesis of lichen planus is not clearly known, it has been noticed to be associated with various factors such as drugs, infections, autoimmune factors, genetic factors, and oxidative stress mechanisms. Oxidative stress is implicated in the pathogenesis of various diseases such as cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases. Complete blood count parameters can be utilized as oxidative stress diagnostic biomarkers for many diseases related to chronic inflammatory processes. In recent clinical studies, it has been shown that the monocyte/high-density lipoprotein (HDL) ratio (MHR) may be useful as a marker of oxidative stress in many chronic dermatoses. However, as far as we know, the relationship between oxidative stress and monocyte/HDL ratio in lichen planus cases has not been studied in the literature yet.
Materials and Methods: The files of cases who were followed up with lichen planus in the dermatology clinic of a tertiary university hospital between February 2018 and July 2021 were reviewed retrospectively. There were 201 participants in the analysis, including 99 histopathologically and clinically verified LP cases and 102 age and sex-matched controls.
Results: Monocyte values (p=0.16) and HDL levels (p=0.26) were not statistically different for both groups, but the MHR value (p=0.04) was detected to be statistically significantly higher in the lichen planus group than in the control group. In oral lichen planus cases, whilst the oral disease severity score and uric acid values were not correlated (p=0.11), the oral disease severity score was correlated with the CRP (p=0.03) and MHR (p=0.001) values.
Conclusions: In the study, we found that MHR levels were significantly higher in lichen planus patients compared to the control group. Again, we detected that MHR had a better correlation with oral mucosa disease severity score than CRP. We suggest that MHR may be a potential index to assess disease activity in follow-up patients with lichen planus.
Keywords: Lichen planus, oral mucosa, monocyte/high-density lipoprotein ratio