Journal of Inflammation Research (Jul 2022)
The Functional Mechanism of MicroRNA in Oral Lichen Planus
Abstract
Yunshan Li,1,* Yaodong He,1,* Junwei Xiang,1 Linfei Feng,2 Yuanyin Wang,1 Ran Chen1 1College & Hospital of Stomatology, Anhui Medical University, Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases Research of Anhui Province, Hefei, 230032, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yuanyin Wang; Ran Chen, College & Hospital of Stomatology, Anhui Medical University, Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases Research of Anhui Province, Hefei, 230032, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are transcribed from the genomes of mammals and other complex organisms, and many of them are alternately spliced and processed into smaller products. Types of ncRNAs include microRNAs (miRNAs), circular RNAs, and long ncRNAs. miRNAs are about 21 nucleotides long and form a broad class of post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression that affect numerous developmental and physiological processes in eukaryotes. They usually act as negative regulators of mRNA expression through complementary binding sequences in the 3’-UTR of the target mRNA, leading to translation inhibition and target degradation. In recent years, the importance of ncRNA in oral lichen planus (OLP), particularly miRNA, has attracted extensive attention. However, the biological functions of miRNAs and their mechanisms in OLP are still unclear. In this review, we discuss the role and function of miRNAs in OLP, and we also describe their potential functional roles as biomarkers for the diagnosis of OLP. MiRNAs are promising new therapeutic targets, but more work is needed to understand their biological functions.Keywords: oral lichen planus, miRNA, biomarker, therapy
