Journal Article

HIV-associated gut microbial alterations are dependent on host and geographic context

Lankowski, Alex, Rocafort, Muntsa, Paer, Jeffrey M., Ghebremichael, Musie S., Luévano, Jesús M., Maruapula, Segametsi, Gootenberg, David B., Xu, Jiawu, Wagubi, Robert, Sentongo, Ruth, Zhao, Guoyan, Bramante, Juliet T., Handley, Scott A., Okello, Samson, Kim, June-Ho, Kwon, Douglas S., Hayward, Matthew R., Mosepele, Mosepele, Rogers, Zoe H., Munoz, Alexander R., Siedner, Mark J.

2024

Overview

HIV-associated changes in intestinal microbiota are believed to be important drivers of disease progression. However, the majority of studies have focused on populations in high-income countries rather than in developing regions where HIV burden is greatest. To better understand the impact of HIV on fecal microbiota globally, we compare the fecal microbial community of individuals in the U.S., Uganda, and Botswana. We identify significant bacterial taxa alterations with both treated and untreated HIV infection with a high degree of uniqueness in each cohort. HIV-associated taxa alterations are also significantly different between populations that report men who have sex with men (MSM) behavior and non-MSM populations. Additionally, while we find that HIV infection is consistently associated with higher soluble markers of immune activation, most specific bacterial taxa associated with these markers in each region are not shared and none are shared across all three geographic locations in our study. Our findings demonstrate that HIV-associated changes in fecal microbiota are overall distinct among geographical locations and sexual behavior groups, although a small number of taxa shared between pairs of geographic locations warrant further investigation, highlighting the importance of considering host context to fully assess the impact of the gut microbiome on human health and disease. Here, the authors compare the fecal microbial community of individuals in the U.S., Uganda, and Botswana, and identify significant bacterial taxa alterations with both treated and untreated HIV infection although with a high degree of uniqueness in each cohort, and also significant differences between populations that report men who have sex with men (MSM) behavior and non-MSM populations.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 45/22 / 45/23 / 45/77 / 631/326/41/2142 / 692/699/255/1901 / Bacteria / Context / Digestive system / Fecal microflora / Feces / Gastrointestinal Microbiome - physiology / Gastrointestinal tract / Geographical locations / HIV / HIV Infections / Homosexuality, Male / Human immunodeficiency virus / Humanities and Social Sciences / Humans / Immune response / Infections / Intestinal microflora / Male / Microbiomes / Microbiota / Microorganisms / multidisciplinary / Population studies / Populations / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Sexual and Gender Minorities / Sexual Behavior / Sexually transmitted diseases / STD / Uniqueness