Gingival Epithelial Cell Transcriptional Responses to Pathogenic Oral Microbial Species.

Transcriptional profiling was utilized to define the biological pathways of gingival epithelial cells modulated by co-culture with the oral pathogenic Porphyromonas gingivalis and Aggregatibacter (formerly actinobacillus) actinomycetemcomitans. We used microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression underlying infection and identified distinct classes of up- and down-regulated genes during this process. Keywords: infection state Gingival epithelial HIGK cells were sham infected (CTRL) and infected with either the oral pathogenic P. gingivalis (Pg) or A. actinomycetemcomitans (Aa). These samples were hybridized to Affymetrix microarrays. Understanding how host cells have adapted to pathogens, and how barrier cells respond to limit their impact, provides a mechanistic biological basis of microbial disease in the mixed bacterial-human ecosystem of the oral cavity.