Accumulating evidence links Fusobacterium nucleatum with tumorigenesis. Our previous study demonstrated that F. nucleatum infection can induce epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) in oral epithelial cells and elaborated a probable signal pathway involved in the induction of EMT. However, the comprehensive profiling and pathways of other candidate genes involved in F. nucleatum promoting malignant transformation remain largely elusive. Here, we analysed the transcriptome profile of HIOECs exposed to F. nucleatum infection. Totally, 3307 mRNAs (ǀLog2FCǀ >1.5) and 522 lncRNAs (ǀLog2FCǀ >1) were identified to be differentially expressed in F. nucleatum‐infected HIOECs compared with non‐infected HIOECs. GO and KEGG pathway analyses were performed to investigate the potential functions of the dysregulated genes. Tumour‐associated genes were integrated, and top 10 hub genes (FYN, RAF1, ATM, FOS, CREB, NCOA3, VEGFA, JAK2, CREM and ATF3) were identified by protein‐protein interaction (PPI) network, and Oncomine was used to validate hub genes' expression. LncRNA‐hub genes co‐expression network comprising 67 dysregulated lncRNAs were generated. Together, our study revealed the alteration of lncRNA and potential hub genes in oral epithelial cells in response to F. nucleatum infection, which may provide new insights into the shift of normal to malignant transformation initiated by oral bacterial infection.

中文翻译：

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具核梭杆菌感染口腔上皮细胞差异表达基因分析揭示口腔癌相关基因

越来越多的证据将具核梭杆菌与肿瘤发生联系起来。我们之前的研究表明，具核梭菌感染可以诱导口腔上皮细胞的上皮间质转化（EMT），并阐述了可能参与 EMT 诱导的信号通路。然而，涉及F. nucleatum促进恶性转化的其他候选基因的综合分析和途径仍然很大程度上难以捉摸。在这里，我们分析了暴露于F. nucleatum感染的 HIOEC 的转录组谱。总共鉴定出 3307 个 mRNA (ǀLog2FCǀ >1.5) 和 522 个 lncRNA (ǀLog2FCǀ >1) 在F. nucleatum中差异表达受感染的 HIOEC 与未感染的 HIOEC 相比。进行 GO 和 KEGG 通路分析以研究失调基因的潜在功能。整合肿瘤相关基因，通过蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用（PPI）网络鉴定前10个枢纽基因（FYN、RAF1、ATM、FOS、CREB、NCOA3、VEGFA、JAK2、CREM和ATF3），并使用Oncomine验证中心基因的表达。生成了包含 67 个失调的 lncRNA 的 LncRNA-hub 基因共表达网络。总之，我们的研究揭示了口腔上皮细胞中 lncRNA 和潜在中枢基因对具核梭菌感染的反应，这可能为口腔细菌感染引发的正常向恶性转化的转变提供新的见解。