Altered nasal and oral microbiomes define pediatric sickle cell disease, mBio
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a chronic blood disorder that disrupts multiple organ systems and can lead to severe morbidity. Persistent and acute symptoms caused by immune system dysregulation in individuals with SCD could contribute to disease either directly or indirectly via dysbiosis of commensal microbes and increased susceptibility to infection. Here, we explored the nasal and oral microbiomes of children with SCD (cwSCD) to uncover potential dysbiotic associations with the blood disorder. Microbiota collected from nasal and oral swabs of 40 cwSCD were compared to eight healthy siblings using shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Commensal taxa were present at similar levels in the nasal and oral microbiome of both groups. However, the nasal microbiomes of cwSCD contained a higher prevalence of Pseudomonadota species, including pathobionts such as Yersinia enterocolitica and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Furthermore, the oral microbiome of cwSCD displayed lower α-diversity and fewer commensal and pathobiont species compared to the healthy siblings. Thus, subtle but notable shifts seem to exist in the nasal and oral microbiomes of cwSCD, suggesting an interaction between SCD and the microbiome that may influence health outcomes.
Audra L Crouch 1 , Beatrice M Severance 2 , Susan Creary 3 , Darryl Hood 4 , Michael Bailey 3 , Asuncion Mejias 5 , Octavio Ramilo 5 , Michelle Gillespie 3 , Stefanie Ebelt 6 , Vivien Sheehan 7 , Benjamin T Kopp 7 8 , Matthew Z Anderson 1 2 9 10