TY - JOUR T1 - HCV poly U/UC sequence–induced inflammation leads to metabolic disorders in vulvar lichen sclerosis JF - Life Science Alliance JO - Life Sci. Alliance DO - 10.26508/lsa.202000906 VL - 4 IS - 8 SP - e202000906 AU - Qing Cong AU - Xiao Guo AU - Shengwei Zhang AU - Jinhui Wang AU - Yi Zhu AU - Lili Wang AU - Guangxing Lu AU - Yufeng Zhang AU - Wei Fu AU - Liying Zhou AU - Shuaikang Wang AU - Cenxi Liu AU - Jia Song AU - Chaoyong Yang AU - Chi Luo AU - Ting Ni AU - Long Sui AU - He Huang AU - Jin Li Y1 - 2021/08/01 UR - https://www.life-science-alliance.org/content/4/8/e202000906.abstract N2 - Vulvar lichen sclerosis (VLS) is a dermatologic disorder that affects women worldwide. Women with VLS have white, atrophic papules on the vulva. They suffer from life-long intense pruritus. Corticosteroids are the first-line of treatments and the most effective medicines for VLS. Although VLS has been speculated as an autoimmune disease for a long time, its pathogenesis and the molecular mechanism is largely unknown. We performed a comprehensive multi-omics analysis of paired samples from VLS patients as well as healthy donors. From the RNA-seq analysis, we found that VLS is correlated to abnormal antivirus response because of the presence of Hepatitis C Virus poly U/UC sequences. Lipidomic and metabolomic analysis revealed that inflammation-induced metabolic disorders of fatty acids and glutathione were likely the reasons for pruritus, atrophy, and pigment loss in the vulva. Thus, the present study provides an initial interpretation of the pathogenesis and molecular mechanism of VLS and suggests that metabolic disorders that affect the vulva may serve as therapeutic targets for VLS. ER -