A Correlation Study of the Microbiota Between Oral Cavity and Tonsils in Children With Tonsillar Hypertrophy.

Man Qin,Bijun Tian,Xuexi Zhang,Weihua Shi,He Xu,Jin Zeng,Jing Tian

doi:10.3389/fcimb.2021.724142

Abstract

Tonsillar hypertrophy is a common disease in 3-to-6-year-old children, which may cause serve symptoms like airway obstruction. Microbiological factors play an important role in the etiology of tonsillar hypertrophy. As the starting point of digestive and respiratory tracts, the microbial composition of the oral cavity is not only unique but also closely related to the resident microbiota in other body sites. Here we reported a correlation study of the microbiota between oral cavity and tonsils in children with tonsillar hypertrophy. Saliva, supragingival plaque, and wiped samples from the tonsil surface were collected from both tonsillar hypertrophy patients and participants with healthy tonsils and were then analyzed using Illumina Miseq Sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. In the tonsillar hypertrophic state, more genera were detected on the tonsil surface than in the tonsil parenchyma, with more intra-microbiota correlations. When tonsillar hypertrophy occurred, both the oral cavity and tonsil surface endured microbiome shift with increased genera category and more active bacterial interactions. Over half of the newly detected genera from the tonsillar hypertrophic state were associated with infection and inflammation process or exhibited antibiotic-resistant characters. Of each individual, the microbial composition and structure of saliva seemed more similar to that of the tonsil surface, compared with the supragingival plaque. In salivary microbiota, genus Johnsonella might be relative with the healthy state of tonsils, while Pseudoxanthomonas might be relative with tonsillar hypertrophy. Our study supported the link between oral microbiota with the healthy and hypertrophic states of tonsils and may provide new directions for future researches in the specific role of oral microbiota in the etiology of tonsil diseases.

Highlights

As the starting point of both digestive and respiratory tracts, the microbiota of the oral cavity is unique and closely related with the resident microbiota in other body sites
In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between oral microbiota and tonsillar microbiota in both tonsillar healthy and tonsillar hypertrophy state, and to seek for bacteria that may be related with tonsillar health or hypertrophy
Due to the limitations of research conditions, tonsillar samples were failed to obtain from 3 children in the tonsillar hypertrophy group (T group) and 6 children in the H group

Summary

Introduction

As the starting point of both digestive and respiratory tracts, the microbiota of the oral cavity is unique and closely related with the resident microbiota in other body sites. Previous studies documented that the oral microbiota was closely associated with the etiology of multiple infectious diseases and systemic diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease (Xun et al, 2018), bacterial endocarditis (Kuwabara et al, 2016), and diabetes (Riviere et al, 2002; Spahr et al, 2006; de Smit et al, 2011; Casarin et al, 2013; Han and Wang, 2013; Zhang et al, 2013). Previous studies indicated certain correlations between oral microbiota and tonsil surface microbiota in both healthy and disease conditions. Saliva and tonsil surface shared a majority of microbiota composition (Segata et al, 2012; Wang et al, 2018). Anaerobes on the tonsil surface were detected significantly increased when the third mandibular molar developed pericoronitis (Rajasuo et al, 1996); while the oral rinse microbiome composition was significantly altered in patients with tonsillitis (Yeoh et al, 2019)

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