The association between oral lichen planus and hepatitis C virus infection; a report from northeast of Iran

Background: The association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and oral lichen planus (OLP) has been the focus of many studies. Fifteen percent of HCV infections lead to sets of extrahepatic manifestations including lichen planus (LP). The prevalence of HCV is heavily influenced by geographical location. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between OLP and HCV infection in Mashhad, northeast of Iran. Materials and Methods: Blood samples were taken from 134 OLP patients and 134 healthy controls (without OLP) to screen for anti-HCV by ELISA (third generation) and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for HCV-RNA. Results: Of the 134 OLP patients only three (2.23%) had HCV infection where both anti-HCV and HCV-RNA were positive. All controls were negative for both anti-HCV and HCV-RNA (P = 0.082). Conclusions: Our investigation illustrated that the prevalence of hepatitis C was higher among OLP patients compared to the control group. These findings are in line with previous results that reported a hepatitis C prevalence of 0.19% among the general population of Mashhad.