Nasopharyngeal Microbiome Signature in COVID-19 Positive Patients: Can We Definitively Get a Role to Fusobacterium periodonticum?

Study information

Needs review

study design

cross-sectional observational, not case-control

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

33659220

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

10.3389/fcimb.2021.625581

URI

Authors

Nardelli C, Gentile I, Setaro M, Di Domenico C, Pinchera B, Buonomo AR, Zappulo E, Scotto R, Scaglione GL, Castaldo G, Capoluongo E

Journal

Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology

Year

2021

Keywords:

Fusobacterium periodonticum, SARS-CoV-2, microbiota, nasopharyngeal swab, next generation sequencing

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused the pandemic Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). This virus is highly transmissible among individuals through both droplets and aerosol leading to determine severe pneumonia. Among the various factors that can influence both the onset of disease and the severity of its complications, the microbiome composition has also been investigated. Recent evidence showed the possible relationship between gut, lung, nasopharyngeal, or oral microbiome and COVID-19, but very little is known about it. Therefore, we aimed to verify the relationships between nasopharyngeal microbiome and the development of either COVID-19 or the severity of symptoms. To this purpose, we analyzed, by next generation sequencing, the hypervariable V1-V2-V3 regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA in nasopharyngeal swabs from SARS-CoV-2 infected patients (n=18) and control (CO) individuals (n=12) using Microbiota solution A (Arrow Diagnostics). We found a significant lower abundance of Proteobacteria and Fusobacteria in COVID-19 patients in respect to CO (p=0.003 and p<0.0001, respectively) from the phylum up to the genus (p<0.001). The Fusobacterium periodonticum (FP) resulted as the most significantly reduced species in COVID-19 patients respect to CO. FP is reported as being able to perform the surface sialylation. Noteworthy, some sialic acids residues on the cell surface could work as additional S protein of SARS-CoV-2 receptors. Consequently, SARS-CoV-2 could use sialic acids as receptors to bind to the epithelium of the respiratory tract, promoting its clustering and the disease development. We can therefore speculate that the significant reduction of FP in COVID-19 patients could be directly or indirectly linked to the modulation of sialic acid metabolism. Finally, viral or environmental factors capable of interfering with sialic metabolism could determine a fall in the individual protection from SARS-CoV-2. Further studies are necessary to clarify the precise role of FP in COVID-19.

Experiment 1

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Needs review

Curated date: 2021/06/28

Curator: Claregrieve1

Revision editor(s): Claregrieve1, WikiWorks

Subjects

Location of subjects: Italy

Host species Species from which microbiome was sampled (if applicable): Homo sapiens

Body site Anatomical site where microbial samples were extracted from according to the Uber Anatomy Ontology: Nasopharynx Nasenrachenraum,Epipharynx,Nasal part of pharynx,Pars nasalis pharyngis,Rhinopharynx,Nasopharynx

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology: COVID-19 2019 novel coronavirus,2019 novel coronavirus infection,2019-nCoV,2019-nCoV infection,beta-CoV,beta-CoVs,betacoronavirus,coronavirus disease 2019,SARS-coronavirus 2,SARS-CoV-2,severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2,severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infectious disease,β-coronavirus,β-CoV,β-CoVs,COVID-19

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: COVID-19 negative controls
Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: COVID-19 positive patients
Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: Symptomatic COVID-19 positive patients
Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 12
Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 18

Lab analysis

Sequencing type: 16S

16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene: V1-V3

Sequencing platform Manufacturer and experimental platform used for quantifying microbial abundance: Illumina

Statistical Analysis

Statistical test: Kruskall-Wallis

Significance threshold p-value or FDR threshold used for differential abundance testing (if any): 0.05
MHT correction Have statistical tests be corrected for multiple hypothesis testing (MHT)?: No

Alpha Diversity

Shannon Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species richness: unchanged
Chao1 Abundance-based estimator of species richness: unchanged
Simpson Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species evenness: unchanged