AUTHOR=Li Kangjie , Deng Jielian , Zhang Cong , Lai Guichuan , Xie Biao , Zhong Xiaoni 

TITLE=Gut microbiome dysbiosis in men who have sex with men increases HIV infection risk through immunity homeostasis alteration

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2023.1260068

DOI=10.3389/fcimb.2023.1260068

ISSN=2235-2988

ABSTRACT=Objectives: Recent studies pointed out that gut microbiome dysbiosis in HIV infection was possibly confounded by men who have sex with men (MSM), but lack of evidence. It also remained unclear how MSM-associated gut microbiome dysbiosis affected human health. This study aimed to compare the differences of gut microbiome changes between HIV and MSM, and reveal the potential impacts of MSM-associated gut microbiome dysbiosis on immune system.We searched available studies based on PubMed database, and all gut microbiome changes associated with HIV infection and MSM were extracted from the enrolled studies. gutMgene database was used to identify the target genes and metabolites of gut microbiome.Bioinformatic technology and single cell RNA sequencing data analysis were utilized to explore the impacts of these gut microbiome changes on human immunity.The results showed significant overlaps between gut microbiome associated with HIV and that of MSM. Moreover, bioinformatic analysis revealed that gut microbiome dysbiosis in MSM had impact on several pathways related to immunity, including IL-17 signaling pathway and Th17 cell differentiation. Additionally, target genes of MSM-associated gut microbiome were found to be highly expressed in monocytes and lymphocytes, suggesting their potential regulatory role in immune cells. Furthermore, we found that MSM-associated gut microbiome could produce acetate and butyrate which were reported to increase the level of inflammatory factors.In conclusion, this study highlighted that MSM-associated gut microbiome dysbiosis might increase the risk of HIV acquirement by activating immunity. Further studies are expected to elucidate the mechanism by which gut microbiome dysbiosis in MSM modulates HIV susceptibility.