1. Potential implications of SARS-CoV-2 oral infection in the host microbiota
- Author
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Aurea Simon-Soro, Qianming Chen, Xuedong Zhou, Zhenting Xiang, Hyun Koo, Yuan Liu, and Universidad de Sevilla. Departamento de Estomatología
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Microbiology (medical) ,angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ace2) ,Review Article ,Infectious and parasitic diseases ,RC109-216 ,Biology ,Gut flora ,Microbiology ,Oral-lung axis ,Pathogenesis ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,microbiota ,medicine ,Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ,Dentistry (miscellaneous) ,Microbiome ,Lung ,Mechanism (biology) ,Host (biology) ,Microbiota ,Outbreak ,030206 dentistry ,Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) ,medicine.disease ,biology.organism_classification ,QR1-502 ,stomatognathic diseases ,030104 developmental biology ,Infectious Diseases ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Immunology ,Oral-gut axis ,oral-lung axis ,oral-gut axis ,Dysbiosis ,severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 - Abstract
The oral cavity, as the entry point to the body, may play a critical role in the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 infection that has caused a global outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Available data indicate that the oral cavity may be an active site of infection and an important reservoir of SARS-CoV-2. Considering that the oral surfaces are colonized by a diverse microbial community, it is likely that viruses have interactions with the host microbiota. Patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 may have alterations in the oral and gut microbiota, while oral species have been found in the lung of COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, interactions between the oral, lung, and gut microbiomes appear to occur dynamically whereby a dysbiotic oral microbial community could influence respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases. However, it is unclear whether SARS-CoV-2 infection can alter the local homeostasis of the resident microbiota, actively cause dysbiosis, or influence cross-body sites interactions. Here, we provide a conceptual framework on the potential impact of SARS-CoV-2 oral infection on the local and distant microbiomes across the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts (‘oral-tract axes’), which remains largely unexplored. Studies in this area could further elucidate the pathogenic mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 and the course of infection as well as the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 across different sites in the human host.
- Published
- 2020