Expression of heat shock protein (HSP70) in oral lichen planus and non-dysplastic oral leucoplakia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of heat shock protein (HSP70) in oral non-dysplastic leucoplakia and in relation to the clinical and pathological features of oral lichen planus. The expression of HSP70 was assessed in the epithelial compartment of normal mucosa (n = 5), oral lichen planus (n = 28) and benign leucoplakia (n = 11) using an immunohistochemical method. The immunostaining intensity distribution (IID) index was used to quantify the positivity of the staining. There was no association between HSP70 overexpression and clinical presentation of oral lichen planus. Oral lichen planus patients showed no statistically significant differences in the depth of the inflammatory infiltrate when expression of HSP70 was considered (X(i)- X(j) = 42.30; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = -120.87-205.48). No statistically significant differences were identified in terms of HSP70 expression between oral lichen planus and normal buccal mucosal specimens (X(i)- X(j) = 4.07; 95% CI = -0.53-8.67). The IID index score for HSP70 expression in leucoplakia specimens was significantly higher than the one of the oral lichen planus group (X(i) - X(j)= 5.11; 95% CI = 1.73-8.48). It is concluded that there are no statistically significant differences in HSP70 expression between oral lichen planus and normal buccal mucosal specimens, suggesting that HSP70 does not play an obvious part in the pathogenesis of oral lichen planus. The expression of HSP70 was significantly higher in oral leucoplakia than in oral lichen planus, possibly because of differences in cellular activity or cell proliferation.

Heat Shock Proteins (HSP70 and HSP27) as Markers of Epithelial Dysplasia in Oral Leukoplakia

“…5,14,21,27 Occasionally, both moderate cytoplasmic staining and nuclear staining are present in normal oropharyngeal mucosa adjacent to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. 28 Our research group has recently reported the absence of nuclear staining for HSP70 in normal mucosa and a weak cytoplasmic expression of this protein in normal epithelium, with an IID index score of ( X 6 SD = 4:0 6 3:39), 29 which was significantly lower than the observed for nondysplastic OLs in this study ( X i À X j = 12.91; 95% CI = 7.81-18.00; P = 0.000).…”

Altered expression of HSP70 in oral lichen planus

“…This is supported by Bramanti et al and Seoane et al , who concluded in their study that the expression of HSPs is seen in normal oral mucosa. [1112] Literature reveals that the expression of HSPs was noted to be altered in OLP. [13]…”

“…[11] Seaone concluded that differences in HSP70 expression among OLP and normal mucosa were slight and inconclusive. [12]…”

Analysis of the expression of heat‐shock protein 27 in patients with oral lichen planus

“…Similar results have been observed with hsp60 (Bramanti et al , 1995; Chaiyarit et al , 1999). In relation to hsp70 , there seems to be different results; it may relate more to oral leukoplakia than to OLP (Seoane et al , 2004). Regarding Hsp90 , some controversy exists, as in one experiment, it did not demonstrate any correlation with OLP (Bramanti et al , 1995), while in other experiment, it appreciated a reduction in the expression of hsp90 compared to control mucosa (Chaiyarit et al , 2009).…”