RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Gut microbiome dysbiosis during COVID-19 is associated with increased risk for bacteremia and microbial translocation
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.07.15.452246
DO 10.1101/2021.07.15.452246
A1 Mericien Venzon
A1 Lucie Bernard-Raichon
A1 Jon Klein
A1 Jordan E. Axelrad
A1 Chenzhen Zhang
A1 Grant A. Hussey
A1 Alexis P. Sullivan
A1 Arnau Casanovas-Massana
A1 Maria G. Noval
A1 Ana M. Valero-Jimenez
A1 Juan Gago
A1 Gregory Putzel
A1 Alejandro Pironti
A1 Evan Wilder
A1 Yale IMPACT Research Team
A1 Lorna E. Thorpe
A1 Dan R. Littman
A1 Meike Dittmann
A1 Kenneth A. Stapleford
A1 Bo Shopsin
A1 Victor J. Torres
A1 Albert I. Ko
A1 Akiko Iwasaki
A1 Ken Cadwell
A1 Jonas Schluter
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/03/02/2021.07.15.452246.abstract
AB The microbial populations in the gut microbiome have recently been associated with COVID-19 disease severity. However, a causal impact of the gut microbiome on COVID-19 patient health has not been established. Here we provide evidence that gut microbiome dysbiosis is associated with translocation of bacteria into the blood during COVID-19, causing life-threatening secondary infections. Antibiotics and other treatments during COVID-19 can potentially confound microbiome associations. We therefore first demonstrate in a mouse model that SARS-CoV-2 infection can induce gut microbiome dysbiosis, which correlated with alterations to Paneth cells and goblet cells, and markers of barrier permeability. Comparison with stool samples collected from 96 COVID-19 patients at two different clinical sites also revealed substantial gut microbiome dysbiosis, paralleling our observations in the animal model. Specifically, we observed blooms of opportunistic pathogenic bacterial genera known to include antimicrobial-resistant species in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Analysis of blood culture results testing for secondary microbial bloodstream infections with paired microbiome data obtained from these patients indicates that bacteria may translocate from the gut into the systemic circulation of COVID-19 patients. These results are consistent with a direct role for gut microbiome dysbiosis in enabling dangerous secondary infections during COVID-19.Competing Interest StatementKC has received research support from Pfizer, Takeda, Pacific Biosciences, Genentech, and Abbvie; consulted for or received an honoraria from Puretech Health, Genentech, and Abbvie; and holds U.S. patent 10,722,600 and provisional patents 62/935,035 and 63/157,225. JS is cofounder of Postbiotics Plus Research LLC.