Nizinski Kacper, Orszulak Dominika, Janik Marta, Skowronek Kaja, Stojko Rafal, Drosdzol-Cop Agnieszka
Chair and Department of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Oncological Gynecology, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland.
Euroimmun Polska Sp. z o.o., Wroclaw, Poland.
Ginekol Pol. 2022;93(10):793-798. doi: 10.5603/GP.a2022.0102.
Vulvar lichen sclerosus (VLS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of unclear etiology. Recent studies show that 15-34% of cases in adult women and 14% in girls coexist with allergies or autoimmune diseases, among others - celiac disease (CD). Most of the research on the coexistence of VLS and autoimmune diseases has been carried out on a group of adult women. Literature data on this issue are very scarce.
The presented work is a pioneering project in which we tried to elucidate a possible relationship between celiac disease and lichen sclerosus in girls. The aim of the research was to study the antibodies characteristic of celiac disease in girls with VLS. The control group consisted of 35 heathy adolescent girls and the study group consisted of 20 girls aged 2-18 years old diagnosed with vulvar lichen sclerosus recruited at the Gynecological Clinic for Girls at the Women's Health Center in Katowice.
There were no significant differences in the concentrations of antibodies characteristic for CD in the blood serum between the studied groups.
The main limitation of our study was the small size of the study group. It is therefore legitimate to conduct further research on a larger study group to find themutual correlations between the analyzed antibodies and the onset and the course of VLS in girls. The finding of a positive correlation between the coexistence of VLS and CD may prevent potentially serious, long-term complications.
外阴硬化性苔藓（VLS）是一种病因不明的慢性炎症性疾病。最近的研究表明，成年女性中有15%-34%的病例以及女童中有14%的病例同时存在过敏或自身免疫性疾病，其中包括乳糜泻（CD）。大多数关于VLS与自身免疫性疾病共存的研究是在成年女性群体中进行的。关于这个问题的文献资料非常稀少。
本研究是一个开创性项目，我们试图阐明女童乳糜泻与硬化性苔藓之间可能存在的关系。研究目的是研究患有VLS的女童中乳糜泻的特征性抗体。对照组由35名健康青春期女童组成，研究组由20名年龄在2至18岁之间、在卡托维兹妇女健康中心女童妇科诊所被诊断为外阴硬化性苔藓的女童组成。
研究组之间血清中CD特征性抗体的浓度没有显著差异。
我们研究的主要局限性在于研究组规模较小。因此，有必要对更大的研究组进行进一步研究，以找出所分析抗体与女童VLS的发病及病程之间的相互关系。发现VLS与CD共存之间的正相关关系可能预防潜在的严重长期并发症。
