Molecular analysis of oral microflora in patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome by using high-throughput sequencing

Abstract

BackgroundThe objective of this study was to characterize the oral microflora profile of primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) patients, thereby revealing the connection between oral bacterial composition and dental caries, and to identify the “core microbiome” in the oral cavities of pSS patients and systemic healthy individuals by using a high-throughput sequencing technique.MethodsTwenty-two pSS patients and 23 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Their clinical data and oral rinse samples were collected. The V3–V4 hypervariable regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene of samples were amplified and analyzed by high-throughput sequencing on the Illumina Miseq PE300 platform.ResultsBoth two groups were age- and sex-matched. There were significantly higher decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) and decayed, missing and filled surfaces (DMFS) in the pSS group than in the control group (p < 0.01). Alpha diversity was depleted in pSS patients, compared with healthy controls (p < 0.01), while beta diversity between the two groups was not significantly different. Seven discriminative genera (LDA > 4) were found between the two groups in LEfSe (LDA Effect Size) analysis. The relative abundance of Veillonella in pSS patients was fourfold higher, while Actinomyces, Haemophilus, Neisseria, Rothia, Porphyromonas and Peptostreptococcus were significantly lower in pSS patients than in healthy controls. However, the correlation between Veillonella and DMFT/DMFS was not significant (p > 0.05). In Venn diagram analysis, nine genera shared by all samples of two groups, which comprised 71.88% and 67.64% in pSS patients and controls, respectively.DiscussionThese findings indicate a microbial dysbiosis in pSS patients; notably, Veillonella might be recognized as a biomarker in pSS patients. The core microbiome in pSS patients was similar to the systemic healthy population. These provide insight regarding advanced microbial prevention and treatment of severe dental caries in pSS patients. This study also provides basic data regarding microbiology in pSS.

Saliva microbiome in primary Sjögren’s syndrome reveals distinct set of disease‐associated microbes

“…Differential enrichment of Actinobacteria and Firmicutes was consistent with previous studies by Siddiqui et al (2016) and Li et al, (2016), respectively, while firmicutes were also found to be depleted in separate studies (van der Meulen et al, 2018;Siddiqui et al, 2016). De de Paiva et al (2016) and Zhou et al (2018) consistent with those of three previous studies. As reported previously, Indian patients have fewer sicca symptoms and this is reflected in our cohort of patients with pSS (Sandhya & Danda, 2017;Sandhya, Jeyaseelan, Scofield, & Danda, 2015).…”

“…Differential enrichment of Actinobacteria and Firmicutes was consistent with previous studies by Siddiqui et al () and Li et al, (), respectively, while firmicutes were also found to be depleted in separate studies (van der Meulen et al, ; Siddiqui et al, ). De de Paiva et al () and Zhou et al () also showed the increasing abundance of Lactobacillus and decreasing abundance of Leptotrichia . Interestingly, in the case of tongue microbiome of patients with RA also, Lactobacillus was more in abundance whereas Leptotrichia was downregulated.…”

“…In recent years, there have been five studies analysing the microbiome in pSS. Each of the studies explored different oral niches and includes one each from saliva (Siddiqui et al, 2016), tongue (de Paiva et al, 2016) and oral washings (Zhou et al, 2018) and two from buccal mucosa (Leung, Leung, & McMillan, 2007;van der Meulen et al, 2018). Apart from this, a number of factors preclude a comparison of the studies, including population differences (Patel & Shahane, 2014).…”

Next-generation sequencing of whole saliva from patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome and non-Sjögren’s sicca reveals comparable salivary microbiota

“…This can lead to a shift in the oral microbiota promoting colonization and growth of aciduric and acidogenic microorganisms, which increases the susceptibility for developing dental caries and oral candidiasis [5][6][7]. It has previously been shown that patients with pSS have a higher number of decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMF-T), as well as oral fungal infections, compared to healthy control subjects [7][8][9][10][11]. On the other hand, the risk of developing periodontitis does not appear to be higher in pSS [4,12].…”

“…A more recent study using high throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene has shown that reduced salivary secretion is associated with a bacterial shift in oral washings, while low relative abundance of Streptococcus was reported as being potentially diseasespecific for pSS, irrespective of saliva flow rate and in comparison with sicca control and healthy control subjects [20]. Zhou abundance of Veillonella species in patients with pSS than in healthy control subjects, but no differences with regard to Streptococcus and Lactobacillus species [11]. On the other hand, Siddiqui et al found a higher proportion of Firmicutes and Streptococcus species and a lower proportion of Synergistetes and Spirochetes in unstimulated whole saliva from pSS patients with saliva flow rates within the normal range compared to healthy control subjects.…”