Lichen disease

Summary

Lichen disease (MONDO:0006570) is a disease with 2 GWAS associations across 7 studies and 1 clinical trial. Top therapeutic interventions include methylcellulose. A subtype of skin disorder — broader associated-gene and molecular evidence is on the parent page (see Disease family below).

At a glance

• GWAS associations: 2
• Clinical trials: 1

Clinical features

No curated clinical features (Orphanet) for this disease.

Identifiers

Disease identifiers

Field	Value
Canonical name	lichen disease
Mondo ID	MONDO:0006570
EFO	EFO:1000724
DOID	DOID:8574
SNOMED CT	88996004
UMLS	C0023643
MedGen	507920
Is cancer (heuristic)	no

Also known as: lichen

Data availability: 2 GWAS associations (7 studies).

Disease family

This is a subtype of skin disorder. Genetic, therapeutic, and trial evidence is largely curated at the broader-term level — see the parent page for the associated-gene cohort and molecular evidence.

Classification path: disease › human disease › disease by body system or component › integumentary system disorder › skin disorder › lichen disease

Related subtypes (71): dermatitis, cutaneous mucinosis, skin neoplasm, pyoderma, chronic ulcer of skin, systemic sclerosis, sunburn, severe cutaneous adverse reaction, paronychia, Achenbach syndrome, erythema multiforme, erythematosquamous dermatosis, exanthem, facial dermatosis, hand dermatosis, keratosis, leg dermatosis, lipodystrophy, mongolian spot, reactive cutaneous fibrous lesion, rosacea, scalp dermatosis, sebaceous gland disorder, skin atrophy, skin sarcoidosis, sweat gland disorder, vesiculobullous skin disease, hyperglobulinemic purpura, ainhum, cheilitis glandularis, erythema palmare hereditarium, multiple benign circumferential skin creases on limbs, actinic prurigo, congenital lethal erythroderma, Parana hard-skin syndrome, Bazex-Dupre-Christol syndrome, nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, erosive pustular dermatosis of the scalp, pseudoxanthoma elasticum-like papillary dermal elastolysis, toxic dermatosis, oral erosive lichen, chronic actinic dermatitis, Jessner lymphocytic infiltration of the skin, acquired kinky hair syndrome, primary cutaneous plasmacytosis, cutaneous pseudolymphoma, corticosteroid-sensitive aseptic abscess syndrome, interstitial granulomatous dermatitis with arthritis, epidermal disease, skin pigmentation disorder, skin vascular disease, Wells syndrome, solar urticaria, pellagra, hereditary epidermal appendage anomaly, keratosis pilaris, dermis disorder, aquagenic pruritus, Boudhina Yedes Khiari syndrome, non-neoplastic nevus, cutaneous sclerosis, pityriasis rotunda, hematohidrosis, skin disorder caused by infection, livedoid vasculopathy, prurigo nodularis, granuloma faciale, sclerema neonatorum, hereditary skin disorder, hand-foot syndrome, Nicolau syndrome

Subtypes (2): lichen nitidus, lichen planus

Genetics & variants

GWAS landscape

2 GWAS associations across 7 studies. Top hits map to 0 distinct genes (as reported by GWAS).

Top associations by p-value

rsID	p-value	Gene	Risk allele	Odds ratio
rs184889746	4e-31	HLA-DRB9 - HLA-DRB5	T	0.6
chr6:32549362	7e-27		G	0.41

Top studies (by case count)

Study	Lead author	Year	Cases	Controls	Title
GCST90478795	Verma A	2024	7,448	432,972	Diversity and scale: Genetic architecture of 2068 traits in the VA Million Veteran Program.
GCST90476184	Verma A	2024	3,810	114,442	Diversity and scale: Genetic architecture of 2068 traits in the VA Million Veteran Program.
GCST90480455	Verma A	2024	3,810	114,442	Diversity and scale: Genetic architecture of 2068 traits in the VA Million Veteran Program.
GCST90478794	Verma A	2024	1,193	57,395	Diversity and scale: Genetic architecture of 2068 traits in the VA Million Veteran Program.
GCST90436602	Zhou W	2018	779	402,672	Efficiently controlling for case-control imbalance and sample relatedness in large-scale genetic association studies.
GCST90727032	Kim HI	2026	701	43,325	Exome sequencing and analysis of 44,028 British South Asians enriched for high autozygosity.
GCST90044513	Jiang L	2021	670	455,678	A generalized linear mixed model association tool for biobank-scale data.

Variant details and genetic-evidence tiers

Tier distribution (top 50 variants)

Tier	Variants
Tier 1: coding	0
Tier 2: splice/UTR	0
Tier 3: regulatory	0
Tier 4: intronic/intergenic	2

MAF distribution

Bucket	Variants
common (>=0.05)	1
low_freq (0.01-0.05)	1
rare (<0.01)	0
unknown	0

Functional consequences

Consequence	Count
intron_variant	1
unknown	1

Top variants

rsID	Chr	Pos	Alleles	MAF	Consequence	Gene	p-value	Tier
rs184889746	6	32486608	T>C	0.012	intron_variant	HLA-DRB9 - HLA-DRB5	4e-31	Tier 4: intronic/intergenic
chr6:32549362				0.088			7e-27	Tier 4: intronic/intergenic

Genes & proteins

No associated-gene cohort resolved for this disease. Atlas builds the molecular and therapeutic sections — associated genes, protein families, druggability, pathways, interactions, and drug associations — by aggregating over a disease’s associated genes (resolved via GWAS / GenCC / ClinVar / CIViC), and none resolved here. This is expected for antibody-mediated, autoimmune, or otherwise non-gene-defined conditions; the curated evidence for this disease is its clinical features, GWAS susceptibility, and clinical trials (above).

Function

No pathway enrichment — requires an associated-gene cohort.

Therapeutics

Drugs indicated or in trials for this disease

No drug has an approved disease-direct ChEMBL indication for this disease.

4 drugs in clinical trials for this disease (phase 2–3, investigational): efficacy not established — a trial record, not an indication.

Drug	Highest phase
Clobetasol	Phase 3
Clobetasol Propionate	Phase 3
Pimecrolimus	Phase 2
Ruxolitinib	Phase 2

Clinical trials & evidence

Clinical trials

Clinical trials: 1.

Phase distribution (across all retrieved trials)

Phase	Trials
PHASE3	1

Top trials by phase / activity

NCT	Phase	Status	Title
NCT01497951	PHASE3	COMPLETED	Photodynamic Therapy for Oral Precursor Lesions

Drugs tested across these trials (top 30)

Molecule	Max phase	Trials referencing
METHYLCELLULOSE	4	1