Marshall Alison, Celentano Antonio, Cirillo Nicola, Mirams Michiko, McCullough Michael, Porter Stephen
Eastman Dental Institute, University College London.
Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive and Odontostomatological Sciences, University Federico II of Naples.
J Oral Sci. 2017;59(3):373-382. doi: 10.2334/josnusd.16-0334.
Lichen planus (LP) is a chronic T-cell-mediated mucocutaneous inflammatory disease that targets stratified epithelia, including those lining the oral cavity. The intraoral variant of LP (OLP) is associated with interferon (IFN)-γ production by infiltrating T lymphocytes; however, the role of epithelial cells in the etiopathogenesis OLP is not completely understood. There is however a growing body of evidence regarding the involvement of epithelial-derived cytokines, immune receptors, and costimulatory molecules in the pathobiological processes that promote and sustain OLP. In the present study, we used a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assay to assess whether CD40-a receptor found mainly on antigen presenting cells-and the costimulatory molecule CD86 were expressed in oral keratinocytes (three strains of primary normal oral keratinocytes and the H357 cell line) in the presence or absence of IFN-γ. To further characterize the involvement of CD40 in OLP, expression and distribution of receptor and ligand (CD40/CD154) in tissues from OLP were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. The present results are the first to show that both CD40 and CD86 are constitutively expressed at low levels in oral keratinocytes and that their expression was enhanced by IFN-γ stimulation. The intensity of CD40 staining in OLP tissues was strong. Taken together, the results strongly suggest that CD40 and CD86 play a role in the pathophysiology of oral inflammatory diseases such as OLP.
扁平苔藓（LP）是一种由T细胞介导的慢性黏膜皮肤炎症性疾病，其病变主要累及复层上皮，包括口腔黏膜上皮。口腔扁平苔藓（OLP）与浸润的T淋巴细胞产生干扰素（IFN）-γ有关；然而，上皮细胞在OLP发病机制中的作用尚未完全明确。不过，越来越多的证据表明，上皮来源的细胞因子、免疫受体和共刺激分子参与了促进和维持OLP的病理生物学过程。在本研究中，我们采用逆转录聚合酶链反应分析方法，评估主要存在于抗原呈递细胞上的CD40受体以及共刺激分子CD86在有无IFN-γ情况下，在口腔角质形成细胞（三株原代正常口腔角质形成细胞和H357细胞系）中的表达情况。为进一步明确CD40在OLP中的作用，我们通过免疫组织化学方法评估了OLP组织中受体及其配体（CD40/CD154）的表达和分布情况。本研究结果首次表明，CD40和CD86在口腔角质形成细胞中均呈低水平组成性表达，且IFN-γ刺激可增强其表达。OLP组织中CD40染色强度较强。综上所述，这些结果强烈提示CD40和CD86在OLP等口腔炎性疾病的病理生理过程中发挥作用。
