Intralesional and peripheral plasma of oral lichenoid reactions exhibit different cytokine profiles: A preliminary study.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Oral lichenoid reactions (OLRs) are commonly characterized by the infiltration and activation of inflammatory cells at the interface of the oral mucosa. This study aimed to compare the cytokine profiles between intralesional and peripheral plasma from patients with OLRs and elucidate the cytokine profile in the OLR microenvironment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 26 paired intralesional and peripheral plasma samples were collected from patients with OLRs. A panel of 15 cytokines was measured using a Luminex assay. The reticular, erythema, and ulcerative score was used to evaluate the degree of OLR severity. RESULTS: IL-10 was detected in a fewer number of intralesional samples (19/26) compared to peripheral samples (26/26, p = 0.01). The intralesional plasma exhibited significantly elevated levels of granzyme B (median 108.94 vs. 16.00), TGF-ß1 (mean 30448.92 vs. 10199.04), TGF-ß2 (mean 1659.73 vs. 1308.49), and TGF-ß3 (mean 914.33 vs. 573.13) compared to the peripheral plasma (p = 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, and p < 0.001, respectively). The levels of intralesional IL-2 (median 2.84 vs. 3.45, p = 0.019) and TNF-α (median 7.66 vs. 10.34, p = 0.048) were significantly lower in the intralesional plasma compared to the peripheral plasma. CONCLUSION: The intralesional concentrations of granzyme B and TGF-ß were elevated, whereas IL-2 and TNF-α were decreased in the OLR microenvironment compared to the peripheral plasma. These findings may contribute to establishing a panel of biomarkers that can be used to monitor the disease activity of OLRs in a large cohort study in future.

[Experimental study on the structure and immune cell phenotypes of the lymphoid tissues in oral lichenoid lesions].

PURPOSE: To evaluate the existence of tertiary lymphoid structures(TLS) in oral lichenoid lesions and its compositional characteristics of immune cells. METHODS: Tissue samples of normal oral mucosa, oral lichen planus (OLP) and oral lichenoid tissue reaction(OLTR) were collected, thirty cases in each group. Hematoxylin-eosin(H-E) staining was performed to identify the TLS-like structures, and immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining was applied to assess the structure and amount of infiltrating CD3+ T cells, CD19+, CD20+ B cells, CD21+ follicular dendritic cells (FDC), Bcl-6+ germinal centers, CD34+ PNAd+ venules and CD34+ Gp36+ micro lymphatic vessels in TLS of OLL. Histopathology and molecular markers were used to evaluate the morphological performance of TLS in OLL. Chi-square test (Fisher exact probability method) was applied to compare the proportion of TLS in each group; integral optical density (IOD) method was used to calculate the expression level of each molecular marker, nonparametric t test (Mann-Whitney U test) was employed to analyze their difference. Statistical analysis was performed with GraphPad Prism 7.0 software. RESULTS: In OLP group and OLTR group, 46.7% (14/30) and 23.4% (7/30) cases had TLS-like structures, respectively. The frequency of TLS-like structures was not correlated with the type of disease(P>0.05). Compared with the control group, the molecular markers in OLP group and OLTR group were highly expressed, and the expression of CD19, CD20, and CD21 in OLP group had morphological and structural characteristics of TLS. The expression of Bcl-6(mean and standard deviation of IOD were 15 498±15 108 vs. 1 841±2 276, P<0.0001), CD20 (13 067±9 049 vs. 7 695±5 159, P<0.05), CD21 (13 968±14 560 vs. 2 552±2 584, P<0.0001), PNAd (10 328±10 383 vs. 1 756±1 570, P<0.0001) and Gp36 (12 778±12 390 vs. 2 313±2 578, P<0.0001) showed significant differences between OLP and OLTR tissues, but it could not be used as the criteria for identifying the type of diseases without morphological characters. CONCLUSIONS: TLS exists in OLL lesions, mainly presented as non-classical forms. The classical forms can be occasionally found. CD20 and CD21 can be used as the biomarkers to identify the TLS in OLL. TLS can not be used as the diagnosing criteria for identifying OLP or OLTR.

Potential association between Fusobacterium nucleatum enrichment on oral mucosal surface and oral lichen planus.

OBJECTIVE: We determined the bacterial community structure of the buccal mucosa in patients with oral lichen planus (OLP) and evaluated the potential association of Fusobacterium nucleatum with OLP. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We collected buccal mucosal swab samples of patients with OLP (n = 20) and healthy controls (n = 10) and performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing and real-time PCR to determine potentially different bacteria. Damaged and adjacent non-damaged mucosal swab samples of 25 OLP patients were used to detect the amount of F. nucleatum by real-time PCR. RESULTS: Compared with healthy controls, enrichment of Fusobacterium and Granulicatella was more abundant in patients with OLP (p = .0146 and 0.0034). The abundance of Fusobacterium and F. nucleatum was significantly enriched on buccal mucosa of patients with OLP compared with healthy controls (p = .0043 and 0.0235). Compared with adjacent non-damaged buccal mucosa of OLP patients, the amount of F. nucleatum in the damaged mucosa was significantly increased (p = .001). We examined third-level KEGG pathways for bacteria on mucosal surface and found that genes controlling sporulation and ether lipid metabolism were enriched in patients with OLP. CONCLUSIONS: A high amount of F. nucleatum may be associated with OLP. Further studies are required to investigate the precise association of F. nucleatum with OLP.

Altered disease development in the eui mutants and Eui overexpressors indicates that gibberellins negatively regulate rice basal disease resistance.

Gibberellins (GAs) form a group of important plant tetracyclic diterpenoid hormones that are involved in many aspects of plant growth and development. Emerging evidence implicates that GAs also play roles in stress responses. However, the role of GAs in biotic stress is largely unknown. Here, we report that knockout or overexpression of the Elongated uppermost internode (Eui) gene encoding a GA deactivating enzyme compromises or increases, respectively, disease resistance to bacterial blight (Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oyrzae) and rice blast (Magnaporthe oryzae). Exogenous application of GA(3) and the inhibitor of GA synthesis (uniconazol) could increase disease susceptibility and resistance, respectively, to bacterial blight. Similarly, uniconazol restored disease resistance of the eui mutant and GA(3) decreased disease resistance of the Eui overexpressors to bacterial blight. Therefore, the change of resistance attributes to GA levels. In consistency with this, the GA metabolism genes OsGA20ox2 and OsGA2ox1 were down-regulated during pathogen challenge. We also found that PR1a induction was enhanced but the SA level was decreased in the Eui overexpressor, while the JA level was reduced in the eui mutant. Together, our current study indicates that GAs play a negative role in rice basal disease resistance, with EUI as a positive modulator through regulating the level of bioactive GAs.