The effect of topical corticosteroids on Ki67 and p53 expression in vulval lichen sclerosus

✍ Scribed by K.J. Rolfe; J.C. Crow; W.M.N. Reid; E. Benjamin; A.B. MacLean; C.W. Perrett

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 101 KB
• Volume: 147
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0007-0963
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2133.2002.04855.x

✦ Synopsis

Background:

Topical corticosteroids have become the treatment of choice for genital lichen sclerosus (ls) and are believed to be required for long-term relief of symptoms.

Objective:

To compare vulval ls that had been treated with topical corticosteroids, vulval ls that had not received topical corticosteroids, and histologically normal vulval skin.

Methods:

We used immunohistochemistry to look for ki67 expression and abnormal p53 expression.

Results:

We found a statistically significant difference for p53 overexpression, with increased levels seen when comparing corticosteroid-treated ls with normal genital skin (p = 0.011). ki67 expression was also significantly higher in the corticosteroid-treated group compared with normal genital skin (p = 0.001), and increased levels were also found in the treated group compared with untreated ls (p = 0.05).

Conclusions:

Our data suggest that topical corticosteroids have an effect on cell cycle proteins in genital skin and, in particular, genital skin with ls changes.