Abstract: Objective: To determine the correlation between herpes virus-5,6 and linchen planus (LP). Methods: The level of HHV-5 and HHV-6 in the skin lesions of twenty patients with linchen planus and 17 healthy controls were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: HHV-5 DNA was not detected in all samples. HHV-6 DNA was detected in 16 samples (80%) of LP and in 9 samples (52.94%) of healthy controls, with no significant difference (P＞0.05). The average copy number of HHV-6 DNA in the patients and controls were 3.79/μL and 4.58/μL, with no significant difference (P＞0.05). Conclusions: HHV-5 and HHV-6 infection may not be associated with the pathogenesis of lichen planus.

Key words: lichen planus, HHV-5, HHV-6, real-time PCR