Nasopharyngeal Bacterial Microbiota Composition and SARS-CoV-2 IgG Antibody Maintenance in Asymptomatic/Paucisymptomatic Subjects

Abstract

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), ranging from asymptomatic conditions to severe/fatal lung injury and multi-organ failure. Growing evidence shows that the nasopharyngeal microbiota composition may predict the severity of respiratory infections and may play a role in the protection from viral entry and the regulation of the immune response to the infection. In the present study, we have characterized the nasopharyngeal bacterial microbiota (BNM) composition and have performed factor analysis in a group of 54 asymptomatic/paucisymptomatic subjects who tested positive for nasopharyngeal swab SARS-CoV-2 RNA and/or showed anti-RBD-IgG positive serology at the enrolment. We investigated whether BNM was associated with SARS-CoV-2 RNA positivity and serum anti-RBD-IgG antibody development/maintenance 20-28 weeks after the enrolment. Shannon's entropy α-diversity index [odds ratio (OR) = 5.75, p = 0.0107] and the BNM Factor1 (OR = 2.64, p = 0.0370) were positively associated with serum anti-RBD-IgG antibody maintenance. The present results suggest that BNM composition may influence the immunological memory against SARS-CoV-2 infections. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the link between BNM and specific IgG antibody maintenance. Further studies are needed to unveil the mechanisms through which the BNM influences the adaptive immune response against viral infections.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; UNICORN; asymptomatic carriers; immunoglobulins; nasopharyngeal bacterial microbiota.