To explore the potential mechanism of the main active component Tripterygium wilfordii in the treatment of oral lichen planus based on network pharmacology.

The components of Tripterygium wilfordii and targets were searched through the Traditional Chinese Medicine system pharmacology database and analysis platform (TCMSP) and the Traditional Chinese Medicine integrated database (TCMID) databases. The related targets of oral lichen planus (OLP) were obtained through databases such as Gene Cards. The OLP targets were mapped by Venn analysis to the targets of Tripterygium wilfordii to screen out the common targets as the treatment of OLP targets of Tripterygium wilfordii. The Cytoscape software and STRING were used to construct a chemical component-target network and protein-protein interaction network, a network analyzer was used to compute the network topology properties, a cluster profiler software was used to analyze the GO classification enrichment analysis and KEGG signal path analysis, and a Tripterygium wilfordii chemical components - targets - pathway network diagram was constructed.

Twenty-three components and 44 OLP treatmenttargets of Tripterygium wilfordii were obtained. The key active ingredients of Tripterygium wilfordii in the treatment of OLP are triptolide, kaempferol, and tangerine peel. The key targets include TNF and AKT1. The GO classification enrichment analysis obtained 63 GO terms, which are mainly involved in the leukocyte differentiation and reaction to lipopolysaccharides. The KEGG analysis identified 111 signaling pathways, which are mainly related to the TNF signaling pathway and IL17 signaling pathway.

Based on the network pharmacology, this study preliminarily revealed themain components, targets and pathways of Tripterygium wilfordii in the treatment of OLP. This study can provide a theoretical basis for further research to explore drugs with high activity and low toxicity to treat OLP from Tripterygium wilfordii.

This study aims to explore the association between oral lichen planus (OLP) and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) and its anti-thyroid antibodies to provide clinical evidence for thyroid disease screening in patients with OLP.

This study was approved by the institutional ethics committee. A total of 125 clinically and histopathologically confirmed patients with OLP were enrolled as the case group, and they were matched with 125 non-OLP controls based on sex and age. Demographic data (gender, age, lesion type, and disease duration) were collected from both groups. Serum levels of thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb) and thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) were measured to analyze their associations with sex, age, lesion type, and disease duration in patients with OLP.

The prevalence of HT in patients with OLP was 31.20%, significantly higher than that in the control group (9.60%) (χ²=18.504, P<0.001). The prevalence of HT in female patients with OLP (39.13%) was significantly higher than that in male patients (9.09%)（χ²=10.93，P<0.001）. The positivity rate of thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb) in patients with OLP (17.6%) was significantly higher than in the control group (4.0%) (χ²=10.989, P<0.001). The TPOAb positivity rate was significantly higher in female patients (22.83%) than in male patients (3.03%) (χ²=5.210, P=0.014). There was no statistically significant difference in the positivity rate of TgAb between patients with OLP (7.2%) and the control group (3.2%) (P>0.05). Patients with erosive lesions had a significantly higher TPOAb positivity rate (25.0%, 17/68) compared to those with non-erosive lesions (8.77%, 5/57), and the difference was statistically significant (χ²=4.831, P=0.028). Logistic regression analysis revealed that female patients with OLP had an 8.935-fold higher risk of being TPOAb positive compared to males (OR=8.935, 95%CI: 1.134-70.388, P=0.038). Patients with erosive OLP lesions had a 3.199-fold higher risk of TPOAb positivity compared to those with non-erosive lesions (OR=3.199, 95%CI: 1.064-9.618, P=0.038).

The prevalence of HT is higher in patients with OLP, with higher positivity rates of anti-thyroid antibodies observed in female patients and those with erosive OLP lesions. This suggests that thyroid disease screening should be incorporated into the clinical management of patients with OLP, especially for women and patients who present with erosive lesions.