Vitamin D/VDR signaling induces miR-27a/b expression in oral lichen planus
Xuejun Ge, Yuan Lu, Jizhen Wei, Tivoli Nguyen, Chenwei Tang, Wang Liao, Ran Li, Fang Yang, Fang Zhang, Bin Zhao, Jie Du
Abstract
Abstract MicroRNA-27a/b are small non-coding RNAs which are reported to regulate inflammatory response and cell proliferation. Although some studies have demonstrated that miR-27b is down-regulated in the oral specimens of patients suffering with oral lichen planus (OLP), the molecular mechanism of miR-27b decrease remains a large mystery, and the expression of miR-27a in OLP is not well explored. Here, we demonstrated both miR-27a and miR-27b, compared with healthy controls, were reduced in the oral biopsies, serum and saliva samples derived from OLP patients. The reductions of miR-27a/b were also confirmed in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)- or activated CD4 + T cell-treated human oral keratinocytes (HOKs). Furthermore, we found vitamin D receptor (VDR) binding sites in the promoters of miR-27a/b genes and verified this finding. We also tested miR-27a/b levels in the oral epithelium from paricalcitol-treated, vitamin D deficient or VDR knockout mice. In the rescue experiments, we confirmed vitamin D and VDR inhibited LPS- or activated CD4 + T cell-induced miR-27a/b reductions in HOKs. In sum, our results show that vitamin D/VDR signaling induces miR-27a/b in oral lichen planus.