Subgingival bacterial community profiles in HIV-infected Brazilian adults with chronic periodontitis

Background and objective: To compare the subgingival microbial diversity between non-HIV-infected and HIV-infected individuals with chronic periodontitis using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE).

Material and methods: Thirty-two patients were selected: 11 were HIV-infected and 21 were non-HIV-infected, and all had chronic periodontitis. Periodontal measurements included probing depth, clinical attachment level, visible supragingival biofilm and bleeding on probing. Subgingival biofilm samples were collected from periodontal sites (50% with probing depth ≤ 4 mm and 50% with probing depth ≥ 5 mm) and whole-genomic-amplified DNA was obtained. The DNA samples were subjected to amplification of a 16S rRNA gene fragment using universal bacterial primers, followed by DGGE analysis of the amplified gene sequences.

Results: The non-HIV-infected group presented higher mean full-mouth visible supragingival biofilm (p = 0.004), bleeding on probing (p = 0.006), probing depth (p < 0.001) and clinical attachment level (p = 0.001) in comparison with the HIV-infected group. DGGE analysis revealed 81 distinct bands from all 33 individuals. Banding profiles revealed a higher diversity of the bacterial communities in the subgingival biofilm of HIV-infected patients with chronic periodontitis. Moreover, cluster and principal component analyses demonstrated that the bacterial community profiles differed between these two conditions. High interindividual and intra-individual variability in banding profiles were observed for both groups.

Conclusion: HIV-infected patients with chronic periodontitis present greater subgingival microbial diversity. In addition, the bacterial communities associated with HIV-infected and non-HIV-infected individuals are different in structure.