CD8 + T-cell marker genes reveal different immune subtypes of oral lichen planus by integrating single-cell RNA-seq and bulk RNA-sequencing

BACKGROUND: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a local autoimmune disease induced by T-cell dysfunction that frequently affects middle-aged or elderly people, with a higher prevalence in women. CD8 + T cells, also known as killer T cells, play an important role in the progression and persistence of OLP. In order to identify different OLP subtypes associated with CD8 + T cell pathogenesis, consensus clustering was used. METHODS: In this study, we preprocessed and downscaled the OLP single-cell dataset GSE211630 cohort downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) to finally obtain the marker genes of CD8 + T cells. Based on the expression of marker genes, we classified OLP patients into CMGs subtypes using unsupervised clustering analysis. The gene expression profiles were analyzed by WGCNA using the “WGCNA” R package based on the clinical disease traits and typing results, and 108 CD8 + T-cell related OLP pathogenicity-related genes were obtained from the intersection. Patients were once again classified into gene subtypes based on intersection gene expression using unsupervised clustering analysis. RESULTS: After obtaining the intersecting genes of CD8 + T cells related to pathogenesis, OLP patients can be precisely classified into two different subtypes based on unsupervised clustering analysis, and subtype B has better immune infiltration results, providing clinicians with a reference for personalized treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Classification of OLP into different subtypes improve our current understanding of the underlying pathogenesis of OLP and provides new insights for future studies. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12903-023-03138-0.