Xiang, ZhentingKoo, HyunChen, QianmingZhou, XuedongLiu, YuanSimon-Soro, Aurea2023-02-092023-02-092021Xiang, Z., Koo, H., Chen, Q., Zhou, X., Liu, Y. y Simón-Soro, A. (2021). Potential implications of SARS-CoV-2 oral infection in the host microbiota. Journal of Oral Microbiology, 13 (1), 1853451. https://doi.org/10.1080/20002297.2020.1853451.2000-2297https://hdl.handle.net/11441/142591The oral cavity, as the entry point to the body, may play a critical role in the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 infection that has caused a global outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Available data indicate that the oral cavity may be an active site of infection and an important reservoir of SARS-CoV-2. Considering that the oral surfaces are colonized by a diverse microbial community, it is likely that viruses have interactions with the host microbiota. Patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 may have alterations in the oral and gut micro-biota, while oral species have been found in the lung of COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, interactions between the oral, lung, and gut microbiomes appear to occur dynamically whereby a dysbiotic oral microbial community could influence respiratory and gastrointest-inal diseases. However, it is unclear whether SARS-CoV-2 infection can alter the local home-ostasis of the resident microbiota, actively cause dysbiosis, or influence cross-body sites interactions. Here, we provide a conceptual framework on the potential impact of SARS- CoV-2 oral infection on the local and distant microbiomes across the respiratory and gastro-intestinal tracts (‘oral-tract axes’), which remains largely unexplored. Studies in this area could further elucidate the pathogenic mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 and the course of infection as well as the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 across different sites in the human host.application/pdf6 p.engAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacionalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)Oral-gut axisOral-lung axisMicrobiotainfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://doi.org/10.1080/20002297.2020.1853451