Oral hairy leukoplakia: clinicopathologic features, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and clinical significance.

Oral hairy leukoplakia: clinicopathologic features, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and clinical significance.

Clin Infect Dis. 1997 Dec;25(6):1392-6. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/98093412
Triantos D; Porter SR; Scully C; Teo CG; Department of Oral Medicine, Eastman Dental Institute for Oral Health; Care Sciences, University of London, United Kingdom.

Abstract: Oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL) is a lesion frequently, although not exclusively, observed in patients infected by human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV). OHL is clinically characterized by bilateral, often elevated, white patches of the lateral borders and dorsum of the tongue. Histologically, there is profound acanthosis, sometimes with koilocytic changes, and a lack of a notable inflammatory infiltrate. The koilocytic changes are due to intense replication of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), while epithelial hyperplasia and acanthosis are likely to result from the combined action of the EBV-encoded proteins, latent membrane protein-1, and antiapoptotic BHRF1. How OHL is initiated and whether it develops after EBV reactivation from latency or superinfection remain unresolved; nevertheless, definitive diagnosis requires the demonstration of EBV replicating vegetatively in histological or cytological specimens. In patients with HIV infection, the development of OHL may herald severe HIV disease and the rapid onset of AIDS, but despite its title, OHL is not regarded as premalignant and is unlikely to give rise to oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Keywords: *Herpesviridae Infections/COMPLICATIONS *HIV Infections/COMPLICATIONS *Leukoplakia, Hairy/VIROLOGY *Tumor Virus Infections/COMPLICATIONS
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