Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Oral and Dental Medicine - Department of Oral Pathology

Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory muccocutaneous disease with a potential malignant transformation, characterized by cytotoxic T cell against basal epithelial cells. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a short non-coding RNA that plays a critical role in gene expression at post-transcriptional levels. Many evidence showed that miRNAs play an important role in regulating immune response and cancer development. The purpose of the present study to compare the expression of microRNA 27b and microRNA137 in tissues and saliva between OLP patients and controls, also, to evaluate their use as biomarkers of disease activity and malignant transformation by using real-time quantitative PCR. Our result showed down expression in miRNA27b and miRNA137 in tissue and saliva of OLP compared to control, denoting the role of miRNA27b and miRNA137 in the pathogenesis and potential malignant transformation of OLP. In conclusion, the down expression of salivary miRNA27b and miRNA137 favor the use of saliva sample as a noninvasive method for monitoring OLP activity and malignant transformation

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