Nasopharyngeal microbiota profiling of pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 13404
• Main Authors: Crovetto, Francesca, Selma-Royo, Marta, Crispi, Fàtima, Carbonetto, Belén, Pascal, Rosalia, Larroya, Marta, Casas, Irene, Tortajada, Marta, Escudero, Nuria, Muñoz-Almagro, Carmen, Gomez-Roig, Maria Dolores, González-Torres, Pedro, Collado, Maria Carmen, Gratacos, Eduard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 04-08-2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/326/2565/107; 631/326/596/4130; Abundance; Antibodies; COVID-19; Humanities and Social Sciences; Immunoglobulin A; Immunoglobulin G; Immunoglobulin M; Infections; Microbiota; multidisciplinary; Pandemics; Peripheral blood; Polymerase chain reaction; Pregnancy; Relative abundance; rRNA 16S; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Spain
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-17542-z

We aimed to analyze the nasopharyngeal microbiota profiles in pregnant women with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection, considered a vulnerable population during COVID-19 pandemic. Pregnant women were enrolled from a multicenter prospective population-based cohort during the first SARS-CoV-2 wave in Spain (March-June 2020 in Barcelona, Spain) in which the status of SARS-CoV-2 infection was determined by nasopharyngeal RT–PCR and antibodies in peripheral blood. Women were randomly selected for this cross-sectional study on microbiota. DNA was extracted from nasopharyngeal swab samples, and the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA of bacteria was amplified using region-specific primers. The differential abundance of taxa was tested, and alpha/beta diversity was evaluated. Among 76 women, 38 were classified as positive and 38 as negative for SARS-CoV-2 infection. All positive women were diagnosed by SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM/IgA antibodies, and 14 (37%) also had a positive RT–PCR. The overall composition of the nasopharyngeal microbiota differ in pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection (positive SARS-CoV-2 antibodies), compared to those without the infection (negative SARS-CoV-2 antibodies) (
p
 = 0.001), with a higher relative abundance of the Tenericutes and Bacteroidetes phyla and a higher abundance of the
Prevotellaceae
family. Infected women presented a different pattern of microbiota profiling due to beta diversity and higher richness (observed ASV < 0.001) and evenness (Shannon index < 0.001) at alpha diversity. These changes were also present in women after acute infection, as revealed by negative RT–PCR but positive SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, suggesting a potential association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and long-lasting shift in the nasopharyngeal microbiota. No significant differences were reported in mild vs. severe cases. This is the first study on nasopharyngeal microbiota during pregnancy. Pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection had a different nasopharyngeal microbiota profile compared to negative cases.