Funded Projects

In HIV patients, oral candidiasis/oral “thrush” is a common occurrence. Invasive candidiasis infections remain a serious cause of illness and morbidity in HIV positive (HIV+) drug users (DU+). The proposed study is focused on the evaluation of the oral microbiome in HIV+ patients with and without “thrush” and to additionally examine the effect of opiate abuse on periodontal diseases. Opiates can exacerbate periodontal diseases that constitute caries, gingiva inflammation, xerostomia, enamel erosion, and periodontitis. The microorganisms Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia, and Treponema species (termed the “red-complex”) associated with periodontitis can also increase the risk of systemic diseases. The study involves recruitment of HIV+ patients with and without thrush and who abuse opiates from our immunodeficiency clinics at Evergreen Health Buffalo, NY. Periodontal disease assessment will be done in these patients at the UB dental school. We propose to evaluate the biodiversity of the oral microbiome in age and sex matched subjects: HIV+ drug users (HIV+ DU+) and HIV- drug users (HIV- DU+) with and without thrush, using high-throughput 16S rDNA sequencing to fully characterize the bacterial species and identify the fungal species present in oral mucosa/ saliva/ gingival plaque samples from these patient groups, and evaluate their association with levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This novel study is strengthened by the advanced computational and statistical analysis known as “translational bioinformatics” that will be used to analyze the high throughput data that will emerge from these microbiome studies. Defining the profiles of individual microbiomes will have immense impact on our understanding of effects of HIV and opiate use on oral and systemic health. Preliminary data generated will be used to apply to PA-18-699 Basic and Translational Oral Health Research Related to HIV/AIDS (R01).