SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Nasopharyngeal Microbiota

Canadian researchers investigated how severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection altered the microbiota composition of the host’s nasopharyngeal region.

The risk and clinical outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection vary widely among individuals. However, the mechanisms underlying these differences in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) progression and pathogenesis remain unclear. Studies have shown that the mucosal microbiome influences host toll-like receptor (TLR) expression, which is involved in virus detection. Studies have also shown the prevalence of bacterial co-infections in COVID-19 patients at 6.9%.

Likewise, elevated nasal cytokines have been implicated in adverse clinical outcomes in influenza patients. Therefore, exploring upper respiratory tract microbiota compositional changes following SARS-CoV-2 infection could help evaluate its impact on infection severity.

Overall, the study results presented a granular picture of the microbiota differences in SARS-CoV-2-infected and uninfected individuals. Despite significant overlap in the confidence ellipses, the differences in nasopharyngeal microbiota composition among study groups were relatively small.

A non-influenza respiratory viral infection increases the host’s susceptibility to S. aureus superinfection by reducing the immune system’s ability to regulate its clearance from the nasal passage. Therefore, the medical interventions such as intubation or antibiotic exposure most likely increased the abundance of Enterobacteriaceae among the hospitalized SARS-CoV-2-infected study group. However, the presence of Neisseriaceae taxa in the community-dwelling SARS-CoV-2-infected group remains unexplained.

Further work is needed to determine the functional characteristics of the nasopharyngeal microbiome. This knowledge could help develop novel COVID-19 prognostic markers and open new avenues for new approaches to COVID-19 treatments.

Read more: https://www.tridhascholars.org/press-release/sars-cov-2-infection-status-and-severity-influenced-by-nasopharyngeal-microbiota.php


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Increased TMPRSS2 Expression in Tongue Tissue of Females and Alcohol Drinkers

A Potential Risk Factor for SARS-CoV-2 Infection Identified as Increased TMPRSS2 Expression in Tongue Tissue of Females and Alcohol Drinkers In the present study, the researchers used immunoblot analysis and immunohistochemistry techniques to determine ACE-2 and TMPRSS2 expression in the human and murine tongue tissue. Tongue,  submandibular glands , and kidneys were acquired from euthanized five-week-old male mice. Half the tissues were fixed in phosphate-buffered formalin for immunohistochemical and histological analysis, while the other half was frozen at -80 °C for the immunoblot assay. With informed consent, human tongue samples were acquired from patients with primary tongue cancer who underwent surgery. The non-tumorous regions of the tongue were fixed in formalin and embedded in paraffin for the  immunohistochemical tests . Three fresh human tongue samples were used for the immunoblot analysis. Paraffin-fixed tissues were sectioned and mounted on glass slides. Immunost...
Read more

SARS-CoV-2 Spike and Human Proteins

T he emergence and rapid outbreak of a novel coronavirus, namely,   severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2   (SARS-CoV-2) in China in 2019, caused a global pandemic, which is popularly known as the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic (COVID-19). Some of the common symptoms of COVID-19 include cough, fever, loss of taste/smell, and shortness of breath. Additionally, many individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 remain asymptomatic. However, some  COVID-19 patients  experience more severe complications including thrombosis, myocarditis, and thrombocytopenia. Scientists identified molecular mimicry hotspots in the S region. They revealed the presence of molecular mimics with a high autoimmune potential in clusters within the S protein of SARS-CoV-2. Researchers observed that some clusters contained many molecular mimics whose motifs are found in human proteins.  Molecular mimics  present in the α-helices exhibited higher structural similarity based on the n...
Read more