The Expression And Significance Of Caspase-12in Lichen Planus

Lichen planus is a clinical common chronic or subacuteinflammatory disease, the main clinical manifestations of LP are platpapules which are purple red or color of skin; The main pathologicalcharacteristic is hyperkeratosis of the epidermis and liquefactiondegeneration of basal cell a，colloid bodies in dermal nipple layer also.The pathogenesis of lichen planus is not fully understood, some studiesare inclined to the autoimmune theory to the basal cells, involving cellapoptosis and so on. Apoptosis signal is passed to Caspases and theCaspases are activated, resulting in protein substrate cleavage,disintegration of cells, and then the apoptosis was completed. Caspase-12is a special member in its family，which is only cloned in guinea pigsand has a conservative structure currently, the mechanism of this family isstill in the research stage. Studies suggest that Caspase-12is a key proteinin endoplasmic reticulum pathway to be fine proceed, the activatedCaspase-12activate the other caspases in the family,but relationgship iscomplex,Caspase-3is activated eventually that could indicate theapoptosis is in irreversible stage. Apoptosis in lichen planus is complex,the main research at present are mittochondrial injury pathway and thedeath receptor pathway, the research about endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway is little, but its role in lichen planus is still worthy of study. Thisexperiment detect the expression of Caspase-12in lichen planus, and thencompare it with normal skin,to speculate the ignificance of Caspase-12inlichen planus that it would play.Objective: To explore the role of Caspase-12in lichen planus andrich the theoretical basis of the pathogenesis of lichen planus, with thesake of providing a new idea for clinical treatment.Methods: We selected30cases patients under treatment in ourinstitution to the experimental group.8normal cases underwent operationby some else reasons in our institution were selected to control group. Weobserve Caspase-12in the experimental group and the control group inthe expression of skin lesions in microscope by Immunohistochemicalmethod.Results:30cases of the experimental group are positive forCaspase-12expression, and distributed in all layers;22cases were strongpositive,5cases were positive,3cases were weak positive; Caspase-12isexpressed mainly in the basal layer, spinous layer, especially in thespinous layer. Caspase-12was also expressed in normal skin tissue in8patients in the control group, and the expression is weakly positive,mainly in the basal layer and with some particles scattered in thecytoplasmic.The expression level of Caspase-12in the lesions of lichenplanus is higher than that in the normal control group expression level in skin tissue, the difference between the two groups were statisticallysignificant different (p<0.01).Conclusion:1) Caspase-12in most nomal skin basal layer showedlittle expression, and this weakly positive expression may be involved inthe normal differentiation of kerationocytes.2),Caspase-12in the lesionsof lichen planus showed positive expression, and the expression levels inLichen planus skinis is significantly higher than that in normal skintissues, and mainly observed in the basal layer, spinous layer, especiallyin the spinous layer, it may be involved in the pathogenesis of lichenplanus.