Metagenomic investigation of microbes and viruses in patients with jaw osteonecrosis associated with bisphosphonate therapy

Abstract

Objective: The goal of this preliminary study was to use metagenomic approaches to investigate the taxonomic diversity of microorganisms in patients with bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ).

Study design: Samples of saliva for planktonic microbial analysis and biofilm cultivation were collected from 10 patients (5 with BRONJ and 5 non-BRONJ control subjects) who met all ascertainment criteria. Prophage induction experiments-16S rRNA polymerase chain reaction and 454 pyrosequencing-and epifluorescent microscopy were performed for characterization and enumeration of microbes and viruses.

Results: Three phyla of microbes-Proteobacteria (70%), Firmicutes (26.9%), and Actinobacteria (1.95%)-dominated all BRONJ samples and accounted for almost 99% of the total data. Viral abundance was ∼1 order of magnitude greater than microbial cell abundance and comprised mainly phage viruses.

Conclusions: Individuals with jaw osteonecrosis harbored different microbial assemblages than nonaffected patients, and in general viral abundance and prophage induction increased with biofilm formation, suggesting that biofilm formation encouraged lysogenic interactions between viruses and microbial hosts and may contribute to pathogenicity.

Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Figures

Fig. 1

Proportions of various taxonomic groups across the ambient samples (top graph) and mitomycin C control/BRONJ samples (bottom graph) for control and BRONJ saliva and biofilms. BAN, Biofilms; BANT, BRONJ biofilms; BANC, control biofilms. Only groups that accounted for ≥1% of the data in ambient samples and ≥5% of the data in control/BRONJ samples are shown. The category “other” denotes the remainder of the data in each case.