BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Oral Microbes and Host
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1681781
This article is part of the Research TopicImpact of oral and gut microbiome on health and diseasesView all 29 articles
Longitudinal Assessment of Oral and Gut Microbiome Overlap in Patients with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) Undergoing Inpatient Treatment
Provisionally accepted
Jennifer Joanna Barb*
Alexandria N Hughes
Shubhi NandaRalph Thadeus S TuasonGwenyth R Wallen
Katherine Anne Maki- National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, United States
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Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is a condition associated with compulsive alcohol consumption and disruption across multiple physiological systems. This brief report builds on previously published research separately examining longitudinal changes in the oral and gut microbiomes of treatment-seeking individuals with AUD. Twenty-two participants diagnosed severe AUD were enrolled in an inpatient treatment protocol (NCT02231840) and provided oral and stool samples over 28 days (goal 10 samples/participant). The aim of this brief report was to explore within-person overlap and compositional similarity of the oral and gut microbiomes at the genus level, using the Sorenson-Dice Index and Robust Aitchison Distance. Results indicated that the oral and gut microbiomes became less similar during the first week of treatment, with both the number of shared genera and Sorenson-Dice Index values decreasing significantly (p<.001). However, the Robust Aitchison Distance also decreased over time (p<.05), suggesting increased compositional similarity among the shared genera. These findings suggest early divergence of oral and gut microbiota during AUD treatment, where individuals were abstinent of alcohol, followed by stabilization of overlapping communities. This study highlights dynamic shifts in microbiome structure during period of abstinence and underscores the importance of evaluating site-specific and cross-site microbial changes in AUD populations.
Keywords: oral microbiome, gut microbiome, alcohol use disorder, aud, Aitchison
Received: 07 Aug 2025; Accepted: 26 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Barb, Hughes, Nanda, Tuason, Wallen and Maki. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jennifer Joanna Barb, barbj@mail.nih.gov
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