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Objectives: The vitamin D receptor is involved in immunologically mediated diseases such as oral lichen planus. Some studies suggest an association between lower vitamin D concentrations and a higher risk of inflammatory conditions such as oral lichen planus. The aim of this study was to investigate 1) whether there is a difference in serum vitamin D concentration in patients with oral lichen planus compared to patients in the control group, 2) whether there is a difference in serum vitamin D concentration in patients with erosive compared to non-erosive forms of oral lichen planus, 3) whether there is a difference in serum vitamin D concentration in patients with developed oral cancer and those without cancer. Material and Methods: The study included 68 patients, 34 with oral lichen planus and 34 healthy controls. Fasting venous blood was taken from each participant to determine serum concentrations of vitamin D. Results: The T-test results confirmed a statistically significant lower serum vitamin D concentration in patients with oral lichen planus compared to the control group (p=0.001). According to the results, a statistically significant lower serum vitamin D concentration was found in patients with erosive form OLP. All five patients with oral cancer, which was developed from erosive OLP, had low serum vitamin D concentrations. Conclusions: Determination of serum vitamin D concentration could be important for monitoring OLP patients to prevent the development of severe clinical manifestations of erosive OLP and the conversion of symptomatic lesions to oral cancer.

Introduction: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic immune, inflammatory disease of the oral cavity of a still unknown etiology. Materials and methods: The study involved 63 subjects diagnosed with oral lichen planus and 63 subjects without pathologic changes in the oral mucosa who were classified as controls. All subjects were given a detailed medical history at first screening. The medical history of the presence of other autoimmune disease in all subjects was supported by medical records. A sample of venous blood was taken from each subject in order to determine sedimentation rate (SE) and leukocyte count (L) using standard laboratory procedures, and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration values were determined as well. Statistical analysis: The methods of descriptive statistics, χ2-test, the Fisher’s exact test, and the Student’s t-test were used in the statistical processing of the results. The results were interpreted at a significance level of P