Frontiers in Immunology (Jan 2023)

Persistence of salivary antibody responses after COVID-19 vaccination is associated with oral microbiome variation in both healthy and people living with HIV

  • Mahin Ghorbani,
  • Khaled Al-Manei,
  • Khaled Al-Manei,
  • Sabrina Naud,
  • Katie Healy,
  • Katie Healy,
  • Giorgio Gabarrini,
  • Michal Jacek Sobkowiak,
  • Puran Chen,
  • Shilpa Ray,
  • Mira Akber,
  • Sandra Muschiol,
  • Gordana Bogdanovic,
  • Peter Bergman,
  • Peter Bergman,
  • Per Ljungman,
  • Per Ljungman,
  • Marcus Buggert,
  • Hans-Gustaf Ljunggren,
  • Elisa Pin,
  • Piotr Nowak,
  • Piotr Nowak,
  • Soo Aleman,
  • Soo Aleman,
  • Margaret Sällberg Chen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.1079995
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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Coevolution of microbiome and immunity at mucosal sites is essential for our health. Whether the oral microbiome, the second largest community after the gut, contributes to the immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccines is not known. We investigated the baseline oral microbiome in individuals in the COVAXID clinical trial receiving the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine. Participants (n=115) included healthy controls (HC; n=57) and people living with HIV (PLHIV; n=58) who met the study selection criteria. Vaccine-induced Spike antibodies in saliva and serum from 0 to 6 months were assessed and comparative analyses were performed against the individual salivary 16S ASV microbiome diversity. High- versus low vaccine responders were assessed on general, immunological, and oral microbiome features. Our analyses identified oral microbiome features enriched in high- vs. low-responders among healthy and PLHIV participants. In low-responders, an enrichment of Gram-negative, anaerobic species with proteolytic activity were found including Campylobacter, Butyrivibrio, Selenomonas, Lachnoanaerobaculum, Leptotrichia, Megasphaera, Prevotella and Stomatobaculum. In high-responders, enriched species were mainly Gram-positive and saccharolytic facultative anaerobes: Abiotrophia, Corynebacterium, Gemella, Granulicatella, Rothia, and Haemophilus. Combining identified microbial features in a classifier using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC AUC) yielded scores of 0.879 (healthy controls) to 0.82 (PLHIV), supporting the oral microbiome contribution in the long-term vaccination outcome. The present study is the first to suggest that the oral microbiome has an impact on the durability of mucosal immunity after Covid-19 vaccination. Microbiome-targeted interventions to enhance long-term duration of mucosal vaccine immunity may be exploited.

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