Expression and clinical significance of galectin-3 in elderly oral lichen planus patients

TIAN Li-li; DAI Meng; MALi-li

doi:10.19749/j.cn.cjgd.1672-2973.2023.05.005

Abstract：Objective To analyze the expression and clinical significance of galectin-3(Gal-3)in elderly oral lichen planus(OLP)patients.Methods A total of 140 newly diagnosed elderly OLP patients and 72 control samples from the Stomatology Department of the Fourth People's Hospital of Liaocheng City from January 2019 to May 2022 were included.The tissue Gal-3 protein expression was detected by immunohistochemistry,serum Gal-3,interleukin(IL)-6,IL-4,tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)and interferon-γ(IFN-γ)were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results The high expression rate of tissue Gal-3 protein(42.14%vs.20.83%)and serum Gal-3 level[0.91(0.49,1.22)vs.0.88(0.51,1.04)ng/mL]in OLP group were significantly higher than those in control group(P＜0.05),and the atrophic subgroup was the highest.Serum IL-6,TNF-α,IL-4,Gal-3 levels in OLP patients with high tissue Gal-3 protein expression were significantly higher than those of patients with low expression,and the serum IFN-γ level and IFN-γ/IL-4 ratio were significantly lower than those in patients with low expression(P＜0.05).Spearman analysis showed that serum Gal-3 level was positively correlated with IL-6(r=0.170),TNF-α(r=0.180)and IL-4(r=0.203),and negatively correlated with IFN-γ/IL-4(r=-0.252)(P＜0.05).Conclusion The expression of Gal-3 in oral mucosa and serum of elderly OLP patients increased,it helps to distinguish the erosive type/atrophic type with higher malignant conversion rate.Gal-3 is associated with inflammatory response,immune imbalance dominated by helper T cell 2.