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Review
. 2016 Jul-Aug;91(4):410-21.
doi: 10.1590/abd1806-4841.20164288.

Geographic tongue and psoriasis: clinical, histopathological, immunohistochemical and genetic correlation - a literature review

Bruna Lavinas Sayed Picciani  1 , Tábata Alves Domingos  1 , Thays Teixeira-Souza  1 , Vanessa de Carla Batista Dos Santos  1 , Heron Fernando de Sousa Gonzaga  2 , Juliana Cardoso-Oliveira  3 , Alexandre Carlos Gripp  3 , Eliane Pedra Dias  1 , Sueli Carneiro  3
Affiliations
Review

Geographic tongue and psoriasis: clinical, histopathological, immunohistochemical and genetic correlation - a literature review

Bruna Lavinas Sayed Picciani et al. An Bras Dermatol. 2016 Jul-Aug.

Abstract

Geographic tongue is a chronic, inflammatory, and immune-mediated oral lesion of unknown etiology. It is characterized by serpiginous white areas around the atrophic mucosa, which alternation between activity, remission and reactivation at various locations gave the names benign migratory glossitis and wandering rash of the tongue. Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease with frequent cutaneous involvement and an immunogenetic basis of great importance in clinical practice. The association between geographic tongue and psoriasis has been demonstrated in various studies, based on observation of its fundamental lesions, microscopic similarity between the two conditions and the presence of a common genetic marker, human leukocyte antigen (HLA) HLA-C*06. The difficulty however in accepting the diagnosis of geographic tongue as oral psoriasis is the fact that not all patients with geographic tongue present psoriasis. Some authors believe that the prevalence of geographic tongue would be much greater if psoriatic patients underwent thorough oral examination. This study aimed to develop a literature review performed between 1980 and 2014, in which consultation of theses, dissertations and selected scientific articles were conducted through search in Scielo and Bireme databases, from Medline and Lilacs sources, relating the common characteristics between geographic tongue and psoriasis. We observed that the frequency of oral lesions is relatively common, but to establish a correct diagnosis of oral psoriasis, immunohistochemical and genetic histopathological analyzes are necessary, thus highlighting the importance of oral examination in psoriatic patients and cutaneous examination in patients with geographic tongue.

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Conflict of interest statement

none.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A and B - Clinical association of fissured tongue (black arrow) and geographic tongue (blue arrow) in psoriatic patient
Figure 2
Figure 2
Major clinical, histopathological and immunogenetic features found in geographic tongue, showing similarity between GT and psoriasis. Highlighted image of the interaction found in geographic tongue among the CD8 T-lymphocytes, HLA-Cw6 and -B58 and keratinocytes
Figure 3
Figure 3
Main histopathological aspects of geographic tongue
Figure 4
Figure 4
Immunohistochemical marking aspects of the CD3, CD4 and CD8 cells in patients with geographic tongue with and without psoriatic disease
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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