Sex Differences in Beneficial and Pathogenic Bacteria in People With HIV (PWH) With a History of Heavy Alcohol Drinking

Authors

Aakarsha V Rao
Smita S Ghare
Vasuk Gautam
Kristi L Hoffman
Joseph Petrosino
Kaku So-Armah
Jeffrey H Samet
Gregory J Patts
Debbie M Cheng
Elena Blokhina
Evgeny M Krupitsky
Dmitry Lioznov
Edwin Zvartau
Craig J McClain
Hillary Tindle
Matthew S Freiberg
Shirish S Barve

Language

English

Publication Date

1-1-2025

Journal

Frontiers in Microbiology

DOI

10.3389/fmicb.2025.1632949

PMID

41356481

PMCID

PMC12679886

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

11-21-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

BACKGROUND: HIV-1 infection and hazardous levels of alcohol consumption have been independently linked to gut dysbiosis affecting beneficial butyrate-producing bacteria. However, sex-based differences in the composition and function of gut microbiome of People With HIV (PWH) with a history of heavy alcohol drinking remain undetermined, which is the focus of this study.

METHODS: Cross-sectional study examining structural and functional features of the gut microbiome in PWH between men and women with a history of hazardous alcohol drinking recruited at St. Petersburg, Russia. 16S rDNA sequencing information was used for metataxonomic, Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt2) and Linear Discriminant Analysis Effect Size (LEfSe) analyses. Group-wise comparisons were done using Mann-Whitney

RESULTS: Metataxonomic analysis demonstrated that women depicted significantly higher microbial diversity (Operational Taxonomic Units, OTUs and Shannon Index), higher percent relative abundance (%RA) of

CONCLUSION: Overall, we observed significant sex-based differences in the relative abundances of beneficial bacterial communities such as butyrate producers and potential pathogenic Prevotella community in the gut microbiome of PWH with a history of heavy alcohol consumption. The observed sex-based differences are clinically relevant and could inform therapeutic strategies with evidence-based probiotics.

Keywords

16S rRNA gene sequencing, HIV, alcohol, butyrate, gut dysbiosis, sex

Published Open-Access

yes

Recommended Citation

Rao, Aakarsha V; Ghare, Smita S; Gautam, Vasuk; et al., "Sex Differences in Beneficial and Pathogenic Bacteria in People With HIV (PWH) With a History of Heavy Alcohol Drinking" (2025). Faculty, Staff and Students Publications. 6339.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/baylor_docs/6339