Investigation of dysbiosis in oral and gut microbiome in HIV infection

National Institute Of Environmental Health Sciences

Investigators

Abstract

The microbiome is important in immune responses and inflammation in HIV-1 infection. Hence, a deeper understanding of the microbiome prior to HIV-1 infection is potentially important for HIV-1 prevention strategies. During this reporting year, we have processed a total of 374 oral, stool and plasma samples obtained from HIV+ and HIV- subjects as follows: Oral: 16S Oral: Metagenomics Oral: Metabolomics Oral: SCFA Stool: Metagenomics Stool: Metabolomics Plasma: Metabolomics Plasma: SCFA Using resulting data we found significant differences in microbial ecologies, gene functions, and metabolites between MSM who became HIV-1 infected approximately 6 months later and those who remained HIV-1 uninfected. The HIV-1 infected MSM had a significant enrichment of enzymes involved in purine metabolism, lower amino acid metabolism, and higher oxidative stress before the infection. Another important contribution of this work is the introduction of a novel measure of DYSbiosis based on COrrelations (DYSCO) with various data modalities. Using this measure, we identified several gut and oral species as dysbiotic prior to HIV-1 infection. Application of DYSCO to external datasets revealed that Prevotella spp. are consistently dysbiotic across multiple cohorts prior to or following HIV-1 infection.