Association Between Oral Microbiota and Cigarette Smoking in the Chinese Population

Abstract

The oral microbiota has been observed to be influenced by cigarette smoking and linked to several human diseases. However, research on the effect of cigarette smoking on the oral microbiota has not been systematically conducted in the Chinese population. We profiled the oral microbiota of 316 healthy subjects in the Chinese population by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The alpha diversity of oral microbiota was different between never smokers and smokers (P = 0.002). Several bacterial taxa were first reported to be associated with cigarette smoking by LEfSe analysis, including Moryella (q = 1.56E-04), Bulleidia (q = 1.65E-06), and Moraxella (q = 3.52E-02) at the genus level and Rothia dentocariosa (q = 1.55E-02), Prevotella melaninogenica (q = 8.48E-08), Prevotella pallens (q = 4.13E-03), Bulleidia moorei (q = 1.79E-06), Rothia aeria (q = 3.83E-06), Actinobacillus parahaemolyticus (q = 2.28E-04), and Haemophilus parainfluenzae (q = 4.82E-02) at the species level. Two nitrite-producing bacteria that can increase the acidity of the oral cavity, Actinomyces and Veillonella, were also enriched in smokers with FDR-adjusted q-values of 3.62E-06 and 1.10E-06, respectively. Notably, we observed that two acid production-related pathways, amino acid-related enzymes (q = 6.19E-05) and amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism (q = 2.63E-06), were increased in smokers by PICRUSt analysis. Finally, the co-occurrence analysis demonstrated that smoker-enriched bacteria were significantly positively associated with each other and were negatively correlated with the bacteria decreased in smokers. Our results suggested that cigarette smoking may affect oral health by creating a different environment by altering bacterial abundance, connections among oral microbiota, and the microbiota and their metabolic function.

Microbiota and Oral Cancer as A Complex and Dynamic Microenvironment: A Narrative Review from Etiology to Prognosis

“…Smoking may affect oral health by creating a different environment by altering connections among oral microbiota, and the microbiota and their metabolic function. Smoker-enriched bacteria can increase the acidity of the oral cavity promoting the release of amino acid-related enzymes, and amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism [ 48 ].…”

Determinants and Interactions of Oral Bacterial and Fungal Microbiota in Healthy Chinese Adults

“…To the best of our knowledge, this study represents one of the first population-based studies that characterized simultaneously the healthy oral bacterial and fungal microbiomes in the same cohort. It is also one of the largest studies on a healthy Chinese population ( 28 , 29 ).…”

Investigation of the impact of commonly used medications on the oral microbiome of individuals living without major chronic conditions

“…Participants of the Atlantic PATH cohort examined in this study completed questionnaire data on various demographic, anthropometric, and lifestyle factors including smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, and diet. Smoking has previously been shown to alter alpha and beta diversity as well as several taxa of the oral microbiome [ 51 , 52 ] and thus was used as exclusion criteria for the current study. Our previous study on the healthy oral microbiome explored demographic, anthropometric, and lifestyle factors (including diet, alcohol use, and physical activity) and showed that several anthropometric measurements as well as age and sex, were associated with overall oral microbiome structure but individually each factor was associated with only minor shifts in the overall taxonomic composition of the oral microbiome [ 21 ].…”