Lingual microbiota profiles of patients with geographic tongue

• Main Authors: Amal Dafar, Maria Bankvall, Hülya Çevik-Aras, Mats Jontell, Fei Sjöberg
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2017-01-01
• Series: Journal of Oral Microbiology
• Subjects: Benign migratory glossitis; tongue lesions; oral mucosal lesions; oral diseases; next-generation sequencing
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20002297.2017.1355206

Geographic tongue (GT) is an oral mucosal lesion that affects the tongue. The association between GT and the bacterial colonization profiles of the tongue is not clear. Lingual swabs were collected from lesion sites and healthy sites of 35 patients with GT (19 males and 16 females; Mage = 54.3 ± 16.1 years) and 22 controls (12 males and 10 females; Mage = 56.3 ± 15.8 years). Bacterial DNA was extracted and sequenced by next-generation sequencing. At the phylum level, Fusobacteria were significantly less abundant, while Spirochaetes were significantly more abundant in GT patients compared to controls. At the operational taxonomic units level, multivariate analysis revealed distinct clusters for the three groups based on the lingual microbiota composition. Acinetobacter and Delftia were significantly associated with GT lesion and healthy sites. However, Microbacterium, Leptospira, Methylotenera, and Lactococcus were significantly associated with GT lesion sites. Additionally, Mogibacterium and Simonsiella were significantly associated with GT healthy sites and controls. The changes in the lingual microbiota profiles of patients with GT imply a shift in the lingual bacterial ecology. However, it remains unknown if this shift is a consequence of the lesions or of factors associated with the initiation and progression of the disease.