Expression and significance of phosphodiesterase 4B gene in peripheral blood of patients with oral lichen planus.

BACKGROUND: The pathogenesis of oral lichen planus (OLP) may be related to mental factors. In this study, we investigated the molecular mechanism of mental factors in the development of OLP.

METHODS: The normal control group and OLP patients were tested and evaluated by Zung self-rating anxiety scale and self-rating depression scale. Secondly, Agilent human LncRNA chip technology was used to detect differential genes in the total RNA of the normal control group and OLP patients, and to screen out the differentially expressed genes related to anxiety and depression. Thirdly, we verified the genes at gene level and protein level, respectively.

RESULTS: Zung self-rating anxiety scale and self-rating depression scale showed that tendency of anxiety and depression in OLP patients is significantly higher than that in normal controls, but there was no significant difference between the erosion form group and the reticular form group; the duration of OLP showed significant negative correlations between degree of anxiety and depression. Microarray analysis showed there were four differential genes (PDE4B, RGS2, SYNGR1, and SYNE1) related to anxiety and depression in OLP patients; real-time qPCR confirmed the expression of PDE4B mRNA was lower in the peripheral blood of normal control group (P < 0.001). The expression of RGS2, SYNGR1, and SYNE1 mRNA was higher in the normal control group (P < 0.05, P < 0.05, P < 0.05). Wes automatic western blot confirmed that the expression of PDE4B protein was lower in the peripheral blood of the normal control group (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION: PDE4B gene may play a role in the pathogenesis of OLP.