TAZ acting as a potential pathogenic biomarker to promote the development of lichen planus

Background: Lichen planus is a chronic inflammatory disorder. Transcriptional coactivator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ/WWTR1) is an important downstream effector of the Hippo pathway which regulates organ size and tissue homeostasis. But little is known about the role of TAZ in lichen planus so far. Objective: To explore the expression of TAZ in lichen planus and normal skin, and to discover the relationship between TAZ expression and the clinical characteristics of lichen planus patients. Methods: The method of immunohistochemistry was performed to quantify the expression of TAZ in 262 patients with lichen planus and 90 control tissues. Western blot and quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis were performed to examine and compare TAZ expression in 4 cases of fresh lichen planus lesions and normal skin tissues. Results: TAZ was weakly expressed in the basal layers of the epidermis in normal skin tissues with a positive rate of 52.22% (47/90). But in lichen planus, TAZ was strongly expressed in almost the entire epidermis with a positive rate of 81.30% (213/262), and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p<0.05). Additionally, TAZ expression was significantly related to the location of the lichen planus, clinical phenotype, smoking, and alcohol preference (p<0.05). Western blot and qRT-PCR showed that the expression of TAZ in protein and mRNA levels in four cases of lichen planus lesions was significantly higher than that in normal skin tissues. Conclusion: TAZ may play a regulatory role in the occurrence and development of lichen planus, which might provide a new perspective for studying pathogenesis and theoretical treatment targets.