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Review
. 2020 Nov 29;13(1):1853451.
doi: 10.1080/20002297.2020.1853451.

Potential implications of SARS-CoV-2 oral infection in the host microbiota

Zhenting Xiang  1   2 , Hyun Koo  1   3 , Qianming Chen  4 , Xuedong Zhou  2 , Yuan Liu  1 , Aurea Simon-Soro  1   5
Affiliations
Review

Potential implications of SARS-CoV-2 oral infection in the host microbiota

Zhenting Xiang et al. J Oral Microbiol. .

Abstract

The oral cavity, as the entry point to the body, may play a critical role in the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 infection that has caused a global outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Available data indicate that the oral cavity may be an active site of infection and an important reservoir of SARS-CoV-2. Considering that the oral surfaces are colonized by a diverse microbial community, it is likely that viruses have interactions with the host microbiota. Patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 may have alterations in the oral and gut microbiota, while oral species have been found in the lung of COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, interactions between the oral, lung, and gut microbiomes appear to occur dynamically whereby a dysbiotic oral microbial community could influence respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases. However, it is unclear whether SARS-CoV-2 infection can alter the local homeostasis of the resident microbiota, actively cause dysbiosis, or influence cross-body sites interactions. Here, we provide a conceptual framework on the potential impact of SARS-CoV-2 oral infection on the local and distant microbiomes across the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts ('oral-tract axes'), which remains largely unexplored. Studies in this area could further elucidate the pathogenic mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 and the course of infection as well as the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 across different sites in the human host.

Keywords: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2); microbiota; oral-gut axis; oral-lung axis.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
A conceptual framework of the impact of SARS-CoV-2 oral infection on the local and distant microbiomes across the ‘oral-tract axes’. The left panel illustrates the potential reservoirs of SARS-CoV-2 during the infection of the oral cavity. The right panel highlights current knowledge and potential interactions of the virus across the oral/gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts, which remain largely unexplored
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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