Oral microbiota dysbiosis across clinical stages of HIV, role of candidiasis and HPV lesions in Mexican males

Human Immunodeficiency Virus, HIV, progressively impairs immune function, disrupting mucosal homeostasis and promoting microbial imbalance and opportunistic infections. This project aims to characterize the oral microbiota in different clinical stages of HIV, with a particular focus on the microbial shifts associated with oral lesions such as erythematous candidiasis and multifocal epithelial hyperplasia linked to human papillomavirus, HPV. We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 99 Mexican men divided into five clinical groups, HIV-negative controls, newly diagnosed untreated patients, virologically suppressed patients, and those with oral candidiasis or HPV-related lesions. Saliva samples were collected and subjected to massive sequencing of the V1-V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene to assess taxonomic profiles, microbial diversity, and dysbiosis. Preliminary findings indicate significant alterations in microbial diversity and structure among groups, with higher complexity and disbiosis scores in patients with oral lesions. Notably, Streptococcus, Veillonella, Lactobacillus, and Actinomyces were more abundant in HIV-positive individuals, while Neisseria and Rothia were predominant in healthy controls. HPV-associated lesions showed the most distinct ecological disruption, with highly interconnected microbial co-occurrence networks. These results suggest that immunosuppression and oral lesions synergistically impact the oral microbiota, supporting the potential use of microbial network analysis and dysbiosis scoring as biomarkers for mucosal and immunological health in people living with HIV.