Difficulties detecting miRNA-203 in human whole saliva by the use of PCR

Objectives: Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) is a chronic disease of the oral mucosa, and according to the WHO also a pre malignant condition. Micro-RNAs are short non coding RNAs capable of regulating mRNA expression. MiRNA:scan be detected in tissue, blood and human whole saliva (HWS) and recently we have shown miR-203 to be up-regulated in tissue from OLP lesions. Study Design: In order to see whether mRNA as well as miR-203 could be detected also in HWS, saliva from healthy controls and patients with OLP were analysed using two different PCR methods. Results: Results showed low mRNA and miRNA levels in general in HWS samples, making it hard to generate conclusive results. Conclusions: In order to make HWS a valuable source for different analyses, more sensitive PCR techniques capable of detecting very low levels of mRNAand miRNAas well as more efficient methods for extraction of RNA are needed