Familial lichen planus ANOTHER DISEASE OR A DISTINCT PEOPLE?

Abstract

When the very rare disease lichen planus strikes families it is likely to afflict younger members; erupt more acutely, extensively and gravely, attack nails and mucous membranes and recur. Ten patients with familial lichen planus, 2 each from 5 distinct Caucasian families, the parents of whom were unrelated by birth, were found to be carrying HLA-B7 more frequently than in the normal population or in those with the characteristic forms of lichen planus. Their genotype might possibly have rendered them susceptible to a pathogen that precipitated their disease.