title: Immunohistochemical study of Toll-like receptors 1 and 2 expression in cutaneous lichen planus lesions.
abstract: Lichen planus (LP) is a chronic inflammatory, T cell-mediated autoimmune skin disease. Innate immunity could explain the interplay between environmental triggers and the autoimmune cascade leading to disease development. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are important components of the innate immune system, with no previous evaluation of TLRs 1 and 2 in cutaneous LP. This work aims to investigate TLRs 1 and 2 expression in cutaneous LP. This case-control study included 30 patients with LP and 15 healthy controls. Biopsies from the patients' lesional skin and from the controls' normal skin were examined immunohistochemically for TLR 1 and 2 expression. A significant re-localization was found in TLR1 expression with a higher percentage of basal and a significantly lower percentage of homogenous epidermal expression in patients (73.3 and 0 %, respectively) compared with controls (13.3 and 73.3 %, respectively) (P < 0.001). TLR2 showed a significantly higher percentage of epidermal expression (more in the upper spinous layer) and significantly lower percentage of epidermal but more basal expression in patients (66.6 and 10 %, respectively) compared with controls (0 and 73.3 %, respectively) (P < 0.001). The median (IQR) of TLR1 [1 (0.75-1)] and TLR2 [1 (1-1)] staining score in patients was significantly lower than that of the controls [2 (1-2) and 1 (1-2), respectively] (P < 0.05). This work thus shows a re-localization of TLR 1 and 2 expression sites with decreased grade of expression in LP lesions. Targeting TLR signaling is expected to be a novel treatment strategy for cutaneous LP.
authors: Dermatology and Venereology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Abbasseya Square, Cairo, Egypt. smousasalem@yahoo.com
authors: Samar Abdallah M
authors: SA
authors: Salem
authors: Riham Mohamed
authors: RM
authors: Abu-Zeid
authors: Ola Hassan
authors: OH
authors: Nada
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008010:Lichen Planus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000276:immunology; D012867:Skin / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D051194:Toll-Like Receptor 1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D051195:Toll-Like Receptor 2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C495342:TLR2 protein, human; D051194:Toll-Like Receptor 1; D051195:Toll-Like Receptor 2