CLINICAL AND IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF PROPOLIS ON ORAL LICHEN PLANUS.

Aim: To evaluate the possible effects of Propolis on atrophic-erosive form of oral lichen planus. Study design: The study was conducted on 20 patients with atrophic-erosive oral lichen planus. The patients were selected from the out patients clinic of the Oral Medicine, Oral Diagnosis, and Periodontology Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Minia University, Egypt. Methodology: the 20 patients were classified into two groups? Group A: treated by 0.1% topical triamcinolone acetonide paste and Group B: treated by 5% Propolis. Each patient was monitored every 2 weeks for 8 weeks. The objective and subjective clinical progress were assessed using the Clinical Score and Visual Analog Scale. Biopsies were taken at baseline and after 8 weeks of treatment and stained immunohistochemically for tranforming growth factor-?1. Results: There was significant improvement in all clinical outcomes within the follow up periods when compared with the baseline (P <0.05). A non-significant difference was found between both studied groups at the end of week 8 in terms of VAS and CS scores (P?0.05). Immunhistochemical evaluation revealed a significant reduction in transforming growth factor ?1expression in both groups (P<0.05) while a non-significant difference was found between the studied groups (P?0.05). Conclusions: Propolis can be used as an alternative therapy for treatment of oral lichen planus.