the Oncogenic Potential of Salivary miRNA-93 and miRNA-412-3P in Oral Lichen Planus Patients

Oral lichen planus is one of the most common prevalent muco-cutaneous chronic diseases. The disease is definitely auto-immune type .Despite having idiopathic etiology, many risk factors can be considered including systemic diseases, psychogenic diseases, dental restorations and some drugs.

The oral lesions are mainly bilateral, with frequent appearance in the inner buccal mucosa. It can be categorized into three forms; reticular form, atrophic form and bullous-erosive form.

The disease is considered as premalignant lesion as it has high potential of malignant transformation. T-lymphocytes infiltration in the basal cell layer of the epithelium and cytoid bodies are characteristic histopathologic features of the disease.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous short non-coding about 22 nucleotides RNAs in length. They perform major regulatory roles by targeting messenger RNAs (mRNAs) for cleavage or translational repression in animals and plants. they comprise one of the classes of gene regulatory molecules and definitely impact the output of many genes coding protein.

Previous studies have reported their critical role in development of various diseases in broad pathological conditions. Numerous studies have investigated the expression of miRNAs as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in potentially malignant diseased patients from human specimens, confirming these miRNAs as risk biomarkers for malignant transformation with excellent results.