Oral lichen planus（OLP） is a common inflammatory disease of oral mucosa, which is easy to recurrent and has malignant tendency. The precise etiology and pathogenesis about OLP is unknown. Autophagy is a highly conserved phenomenon in eukaryotic cells, as one type of programmed cell death, which plays an important role in the maintenance of inter-cellular environment homeostasis. At present, there is no report about the relationship between autophagy and the development and malignant transformation of OLP. In this article, the correlation between autophagy and OLP has been discussed.
