Expression And Significance Of SAP In The Saliva Of Oral Lichen Planus Patients

ObjectiveOral lichen planus (OLP) was the second most frequently occurring oral mucosa disease which was less than recurrent aphthous ulcer(RAU), the incidence was about 0.51%. WHO had classified it as a precancerous condition for its malignant behavior of long-term erosion lesion. The etiology of OLP was not totally discovered, and the possible risky factors included Psychologicay, Endocrine, Immune, Infection, Microcirculation and inheritance, etc.Candida albicans possesses ten members of a secreted aspartyl proteinase (SAP) gene family as one of virulencefactors, all of which have been sequenced, including two Subfamily SAP1-3 and SAP4-6. The specific mechanism of SAP2 is clear in subfamily SAP 1-3. SAP2 exhibits broad substrate specificity since it is able to degrade many human proteins at lesion sites. It may help C. albicans to acquire essential nutrition and it was the foundation for thalline to adhere, plant, invade and penetrate oral mucosa. The expression of SAP1 and SAP3 was mainly during the phenotypic switching of W-O thalline. The subfamily SAP4-6 was the protease which encoded the specific expression of hypha. The function of SAP9 in infected oral mucosa was to keep the integrity of the C. albicans cell and regulate the process of adhering. But the function of SAP7,SAP8,SAP 10 were still unkown.We have developed a reliable and sensitive procedure to detect C. albicans mRNA from whole saliva of patients with oral C. albicans infection, those with asymptomatic Candida carriage, OLP patients, OLP patients with oral C. albicans infection and OLP patients with asymptomatic Candida carriage. The reverse transcription-PCR protocol was used to determine which of the sap1 to SAP 10 genes are expressed by C. albicans during colonization and infection of the oral cavity. Then reveal the relation between OLP and C. albicans infections.MethodsForty Saliva samples were collected and classified into 2 groups according to the clinical and pathologic diagnosis:patients with oral C. albicans infection and those with asymptomatic Candida carriage. RT-PCR technique was used to examine the expression of saps. Fifty Saliva samples were collected from OLP patients and classified into 3 groups according to the clinical and Pathogen identification; a Candida-negative group, consisting of 10 subjects. (ii) an asymptomatic Candida carrier group, consisting of 20 subjects; and (iii)patients with oral Candida infection, consisting of 20 patients. RT-PCR technique was used to examine the expression of saps. We got collection and analysis.Results1. The group of ones with asymptomatic Candida carriage:only six of the twenty samples were positive for SAP4-6 mRNA only; ten were positive for SAP2 and SAP4-6 transcripts; four were positive for SAP2, SAP4-6 and SAP7 mRNA.2. The group of patients with oral C. albicans infection:eight of the twenty samples were positive for SAP1-7 mRNA; six were positive for SAP 1-8 transcripts; two were positive for SAP1-10 mRNA; two were positive for SAP 1-8, SAP 10 mRNA; two were positive for SAP2-10 transcripts.3. The OLP patients with Candida-negative group:none of ten samples was positive for SAP1-10mRNA.4. The OLP patients with an asymptomatic Candida carrier group:six of the twenty samples were positive for SAP2, SAP4-6 mRNA; six were positive for SAP4-6, SAP7 transcripts; five were positive for SAP2, SAP4-6, SAP7 and SAP8 mRNA; three were positive for SAP2, SAP4-6, SAP8, SAP9 transcripts. 5. The OLP patients with oral Candida infection group:six of the twenty samples were positive for SAP1-7, SAP9 mRNA; five were positive for SAP1-7 transcripts; four were positive for SAP2-9 mRNA; two were positive for SAP2-7, SAP9 transcripts; Two were positive for SAP1-10mRNA; one was positive for SAP1-9 transcripts.Conclusions1. There were differential SAP1-10 mRNA expression between those with oral C. albicans infection and OLP patients with asymptomatic Candida carriage, and the differential SAP7 and SAP8 mRNA expression were statistically significant.2. There were differential SAP1-10 mRNA expression between patients with oral C. albicans infection and OLP patients with C. albicans infection, and the differential SAP9 mRNA expression were statistically significant.3. None of SAP1-10 mRNA expressed in the saliva of oral lichen planus patients; there were differential SAP1-10 mRNA expression between OLP patients with oral C. albicans infection and those with asymptomatic Candida carriage, and the differential SAP1, SAP2, SAP3, SAP7, SAP9 mRNA expression were statistically significant.4. In OLP patients, SAP7 and SAP9 may play an important role during oral C. albicans infection.