Effect of oral and gut microbiome alterations on oral cGVHD
Rashidi A, Pidala J, Hamilton BK, et al. Oral and Gut Microbiome Alterations in Oral Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease: Results From Close Assessment and Testing for Chronic GVHD (CATCH Study). Clinical Cancer Research. 2024; (doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-24-0875).
Changes in the oral microbiome may be implicated in the development of oral chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) in allogenic hematopoietic cell transplantation recipients, based on findings from the CATCH study. Investigators collected and sequenced 195 oral and fecal samples at baseline from 80 participants. The 29 patients who developed oral cGVHD were subsequently evaluated at disease onset, at the first visit after onset, and 1 year after transplantation. The trajectory of oral and/or gut microbiomes in the patient cases were compared with those of 51 controls who did not develop cGVHD. Analysis revealed that the onset of oral cGVHD was typically marked by growth of Streptococcus salivarius and Veillonella parvula in the oral microbiome. Overlap of oral and gut microbiota was not uncommon, especially in participants with oral cGVHD — which supports the researchers' theory that, even though oral and colonic microbiota are distinct in healthy adults, oral bacterial may ectopically colonize the gut.