title: Identification of the key genes implicated in the transformation of OLP to OSCC using RNA-sequencing.
abstract: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disease that may transform to oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), while its carcinogenesis mechanisms are not entirely clear. This study was designed to identify the important genes involved in the malignant transformation of OLP to OSCC. After RNA-sequencing, the differently expressed genes (DEGs) in OLP vs. normal and OSCC vs. normal groups, respectively, were identified by limma package in R language, and then clustering analysis were conducted by Pheatmap package in R language. Weighed gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was performed for the DEGs to screen disease-associated modules. Using Cytoscape software, co-expression networks were constructed for the genes involved in the modules. Enrichment analysis was conducted for the genes involved in the co-expression networks using GOstat package in R language. Finally, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) experiments were conducted to validate the key genes. There were, respectively, 223 and 548 DEGs in OLP vs. normal and OSCC vs. normal groups. WGCNA identified the blue modules for the DEGs in the two groups as disease-associated modules. Moreover, 19 common DEGs (including upregulated BCL9L, PER2 and TSPAN33, and downregulated GMPS and HES1) associated with both OLP and OSCC were identified. In the co-expression networks, BCL9L, HES1, PER2 and TSPAN33 might function in OLP via interactions (such as BCL9L-TSPAN33 and HES1-PER2). qRT-PCR analysis showed that BCL9L, PER2 and TSPAN33 were significantly upregulated, and GMP and HES1 were downregulated. These findings indicated that BCL9L, GMPS, HES1, PER2 and TSPAN33 affected the transformation of OLP to OSCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qiaozhen
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hongying
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shangfeng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Saiyin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hexige
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xuedi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiaxia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics*; D018450:Disease Progression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D017676:Lichen Planus, Oral / Q000235:genetics*; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA / Q000379:methods*