Macrophages are phagocytic cells with essential participation in immunological events of the oral cavity. However, the role of these cells in oral lichen planus (OLP) and oral lichenoid lesions (OLL) remains unclear. The present study aimed to evaluate the density of macrophages in OLP and OLL, and to compare it with that of oral inflammatory fibrous hyperplasia (OIFH) (control group). 14 cases of OLP, 14 cases of OLL and 14 cases of OIFH were selected for immunohistochemical analysis of CD68⁺ (M1) and CD163⁺ (M2) macrophage expression. CD68⁺ and CD163⁺ macrophages densities were measured in the intraepithelial and subepithelial areas. The statistical tests used were multivariate analysis of variance, as well as a correlation and linear regression. OLP has more CD68+ macrophages when comparing with OLL (p = 0.001) and OIFH (p = 0.045). There is a very strong relationship between the macrophages types (p < 0.0001) in OLP and OLL. The linear regression showed that to OLL development (p < 0.0001/R^2′ = 0.9584), the presence of different types of macrophages are more essential than to OLP (p < 0.0001/R^2′ = 0.8983). However, in the OLP these dependencies are also largely. CD68⁺ macrophages may be associated with immunopathogenesis of OLP, indicating a pro-inflammatory activity and regulatory role in the type of T-cell response. Besides, CD68⁺ macrophages can cooperate in the diagnosis of OLP. These results are essential to future studies that seek a therapeutic target for OLP and OLL.

巨噬细胞是在口腔免疫事件中必不可少的吞噬细胞。然而，这些细胞在口腔扁平苔藓 (OLP) 和口腔苔藓样病变 (OLL) 中的作用仍不清楚。本研究旨在评估 OLP 和 OLL 中巨噬细胞的密度，并将其与口腔炎性纤维增生（OIFH）（对照组）进行比较。选取14例OLP、14例OLL和14例OIFH进行CD68 ⁺（M1）和CD163 ⁺（M2）巨噬细胞表达的免疫组化分析。CD68 ⁺和 CD163 ⁺在上皮内和上皮下区域测量巨噬细胞密度。使用的统计测试是多变量方差分析，以及相关性和线性回归。与 OLL (p = 0.001) 和 OIFH (p = 0.045) 相比，OLP 具有更多的 CD68+ 巨噬细胞。OLP 和 OLL 中的巨噬细胞类型 (p < 0.0001) 之间存在非常密切的关系。线性回归表明，对于 OLL 发展 (p < 0.0001/R ^2'  = 0.9584)，不同类型巨噬细胞的存在比 OLP 更重要 (p < 0.0001/R ^2'  = 0.8983)。但是，在 OLP 中，这些依赖关系也很大。CD68 ⁺巨噬细胞可能与 OLP 的免疫发病机制有关，表明其在 T 细胞反应类型中具有促炎活性和调节作用。此外，CD68 ⁺巨噬细胞可协同诊断OLP。这些结果对于未来寻求 OLP 和 OLL 治疗靶点的研究至关重要。