{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T20:40:56Z","timestamp":1790023256834,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"14","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,17]],"date-time":"2025-07-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1752710400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"This work was supported by a 2-Year Research Grant of Pusan National University.","award":["This work was supported by a 2-Year Research Grant of Pusan National University."],"award-info":[{"award-number":["This work was supported by a 2-Year Research Grant of Pusan National University."]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objective: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the oral mucosa with unclear etiology. Increasing evidence implicates oral microbial dysbiosis in its pathogenesis, but little is known about supragingival plaque communities in relation to clinical subtypes. This cross-sectional case\u2013control study aimed to characterize the supragingival plaque microbiota and microbial interaction networks in erosive OLP (E-OLP), non-erosive OLP (NE-OLP), and healthy controls (HCs), to elucidate microbial patterns associated with disease severity. Methods: Supragingival plaque samples were collected from 90 participants (30 per group) and analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Alpha and beta diversity metrics, differential abundance, and co-occurrence network analyses were performed. Results: E-OLP exhibited pronounced dysbiosis, including the enrichment of pro-inflammatory taxa (e.g., Prevotella, Parvimonas) and depletion of health-associated commensals (e.g., Rothia, Capnocytophaga). Network analysis revealed the stepwise disintegration of microbial community structure from HC to NE-OLP to E-OLP, with reduced connectivity and increased dominance of pathogenic clusters in E-OLP. These microbial alterations aligned with clinical findings, as E-OLP patients showed significantly higher Reticulation\/keratosis, Erythema, and Ulceration (REU) scores for erythema and ulceration compared to NE-OLP. Conclusions: Supragingival plaque dysbiosis and ecological disruption are strongly associated with OLP severity and subtype. This study highlights the utility of plaque-based microbial profiling in capturing lesion-proximal dysbiotic signals, which may complement mucosal and salivary analyses in future diagnostic frameworks. Multi-omics approaches incorporating fungal, viral, and metabolic profiling are warranted to fully elucidate host\u2013microbe interactions in OLP.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm14145078","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,17]],"date-time":"2025-07-17T13:00:51Z","timestamp":1752757251000},"page":"5078","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["The Association Between Supragingival Plaque Microbial Profiles and the Clinical Severity of Oral Lichen Planus Subtypes: A Cross-Sectional Case\u2013Control Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1776-371X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Soo-Min","family":"Ok","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oral Medicine, Dental and Life Science Institute, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Busandaehak-ro 49, Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan 50612, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Department of Oral Medicine, Dental Research Institute, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Busandaehak-ro 49, Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan 50612, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9252-6717","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hye-Min","family":"Ju","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oral Medicine, Dental and Life Science Institute, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Busandaehak-ro 49, Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan 50612, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Department of Oral Medicine, Dental Research Institute, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Busandaehak-ro 49, Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan 50612, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6296-4775","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sung-Hee","family":"Jeong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oral Medicine, Dental and Life Science Institute, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Busandaehak-ro 49, Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan 50612, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Department of Oral Medicine, Dental Research Institute, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Busandaehak-ro 49, Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan 50612, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yong-Woo","family":"Ahn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oral Medicine, Dental and Life Science Institute, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Busandaehak-ro 49, Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan 50612, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Department of Oral Medicine, Dental Research Institute, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Busandaehak-ro 49, Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan 50612, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4050-5797","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ji-Young","family":"Joo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Periodontology, Dental Research Institute, Pusan National University Dental Hospital, Yangsan 50612, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jung Hwa","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oral Microbiology, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Yangsan 50612, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Dental Research Institute, BK21 PLUS Project, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Yangsan 50612, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8438-8115","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Si Yeong","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oral Microbiology, School of Dentistry, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 61186, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6859-615X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jin","family":"Chung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oral Microbiology, School of Dentistry, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 61186, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3246-4681","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hee Sam","family":"Na","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oral Microbiology, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Yangsan 50612, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Dental Research Institute, BK21 PLUS Project, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Yangsan 50612, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2023). 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