Oral Lichen Planus and its relation with Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: new insights into the potential for malignant transformation

Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology. However, evidence suggests that it consists of an immunological process that leads to degeneration of the keratinocytes in the basal layer of the oral mucosa. Despite being recognized by WHO as a potentially malignant disorder with progression to oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), the relationship between both pathologies is still controversial. Different studies have investigated factors associated with the potential for malignant transformation of OLP but it remains unclear. Through a bioinformatics approach, we investigated similarities in gene expression profiles of OLP and OSCC in early and advanced stages. Our results revealed gene expression patterns related to processes of keratinization, keratinocyte differentiation, cell proliferation and immune response in common between OLP and early and advanced OSCC, with the cornified envelope formation and antigen processing cross-presentation pathways in common between OLP and early OSCC. Together, these results reveal that key genes such as PI3, SPRR1B and KRT17, in addition to genes associated with different immune processes such as CXCL-13, HIF1A and IL1B may be involved in this oncogenic process. In addition, we performed an analysis of differentially and co-expressed genes and proposed putative therapeutic targets and associated drugs.