Mining the human tonsillar microbiota as autoimmune modulator

Abstract

Palatine tonsils are important lymphoid organs featuring constant cross-talks between the commensal microorganisms and immune system, and have been implicated as critical autoimmunity origins for immune-related diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a common autoimmune disorder. However, there was no evidence to show link between tonsillar microbiota and RA. Here, we identified a significant dysbiosis of RA tonsillar microbiota, with loss of Streptococcus salivarius and its functional molecules salivaricins (a type of antibacterial peptides). Consistent with the niche-preference, S. salivarius and salivaricins administrated intranasally or intraorally conferred prophylactic and therapeutic efficacies against experimental arthritis. Moreover, we demonstrated, for the first time, that S. salivarius and salivaricins exerted immunosuppressive capacities via inhibiting CD4+effector T cell subsets and autoantibody production in mice and human. These results uncover a communication between tonsillar microbiota and host autoimmunity, and identify the active components from tonsillar microbes in modulating immune homeostasis.One sentence summaryTonsillar microbiota regulate host autoimmunity via antibacterial peptides

Dysbiotic oral and gut viromes in untreated and treated rheumatoid arthritis patients

“…Oral virome was more sensitive than other body sites to the environmental changes such as antibiotics taking [39]. In both untreated and treated RA patients, we found that the RA-associated changes of oral virome were remark ably greater than that of gut virome, so as in the bacterial metagenomic studies, suggesting that the oral microbiota could be the autoimmune regulator for its high correlation with host systemic autoimmune features[6, 40, 41]. Notably, in the oral virome, 57dental plaque and 463 saliva vOTUs had significantly differed in abundance among untreated/treated RA patients and healthy controls.…”