Transcriptome profiles of moderate dysplasia in oral mucosa associated with malignant conversion

Oral malignancies are among the top most deadly cancers in the world. Early diagnosis of oral premalignant and malignant lesions is essential for treatment decision-making and prognosis improvement. In this study, we systematically evaluated the gene expression patterns during the pathogenesis of oral moderate dysplasia. RNA sequencing detected 21556 genes in moderate dysplasia and paired normal tissues from three patients. Hierarchical clustering analysis revealed distinct gene expression patterns between the moderate dysplasia samples. 346 differentially expressed genes that may contribute to the pathogenesis of moderate dysplasia were identified. Among these genes, ISG15 and MAGEA family showed different transcription profiles that close related with the alterations of gene expression patterns in moderate dysplasia samples and paired normal tissues. We speculated that, as the potential marker to signal the risk of malignant transformation, ISG15 and MAGEA together with their close related misexpressed genes may involve in two different pathways during the malignant conversion from oral dysplasia to oral squamous cell carcinoma. Overall design: six samples, including oral moderate dysplasia samples and paired normal samples from three patients