Coronaviridae-Old friends, new enemy!

Coronaviridae is a family of single-stranded positive enveloped RNA viruses. This article aimed to review the history of these viruses in the last 60 years since their discovery to understand what lessons can be learned from the past. A review of the PubMed database was carried out, describing taxonomy, classification, virology, genetic recombination, host adaptation, and main symptoms related to each type of virus. SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for the ongoing global pandemic, and SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV were responsible for causing severe respiratory illness and regional epidemics in the past while the four other strains of CoVs (229-E OC43, NL63, and HKU1) circulate worldwide and normally only cause mild upper respiratory tract infections. Given the enormous diversity of coronavirus viruses in wildlife and their continuous evolution and adaptation to humans, future outbreaks would undoubtedly occur. Restricting or banning all trade in wild animals in wet markets would be a necessary measure to reduce future zoonotic infections.

Análise do perfil microbiano de lesões orais potencialmente malignas / The microbial profile of potentially malignant oral disorders

As lesões orais potencialmente malignas são alterações que exibem maior risco de transformação maligna em comparação com a mucosa saudável. Apesar de sua relevância, a literatura ainda não definiu o papel da microbiota na etiologia e no processo de malignização dessas lesões. Assim, neste trabalho, realizamos um estudo do tipo caso controle de caráter longitudinal, prospectivo e quantitativo onde avaliamos as populações bacterianas do microbioma oral em pacientes com lesões orais potencialmente malignas. Para isso, utilizamos um questionário estruturado e coletamos swabs orais em pacientes portadores de leucoplasia, eritroplasia, líquen plano, lesão liquenóide oral e também controles saudáveis. Participaram do estudo 60 indivíduos, no período de coleta de 2018 à 2020,sendo 39 do grupo caso e 21 do grupo controle. A maioria dos pacientes era do sexo feminino (42/60; 70%) com média de idade de 57 anos, e mais da metade dos indivíduos eram não fumantes (35/60; 58,3%) e etilistas (36/60; 60%). Dentre os diagnósticos, observamos a maioria dos indivíduos com líquen plano oral/lesão liquenóide oral (13/39), seguidos de leucoplasia homogênea (10/39), eritroleucoplasia (8/39), leucoplasia verrucosa proliferativa (6/39) ou eritroplasia (2/39). A borda da língua foi o local mais comumente acometido, com a maioria apresentando múltiplos sítios (21/39). A displasia epitelial foi avaliada nas lesões, exceto líquen plano e lesões liquenóides, e 18 pacientes tiveram algum grau de displasia. Um total de 73 amostras tiveram a região V3-V4 do gene 16S rRNA amplificada e sequenciada, sendo 60 amostras referentes à primeira coleta e 13 ao segundo momento de coleta dos participantes do grupo caso, sendo que 3/13 desses indivíduos vieram a ter um diagnóstico de carcinoma espinocelular oral. Identificamos maior quantidade de genomas bacterianos por genomas humanos nas amostras do grupo caso, no entanto, a diversidade e composição bacteriana foram semelhantes entre casos e controles. No total, identificamos 9 filos, 15 classes, 24 ordens, 47 famílias e 67 gêneros bacterianos. O gênero mais abundante foi Streptococcus em ambos os grupos, com menor frequência nos casos. Encontramos ainda alta abundância dos gêneros Granulicatella e Blautia nos indivíduos com lesões orais e menor abundância de Methylobacterium, Lautropia e Oribacterium. Observamos também que a abundância de Granulicatella e Bergeyella foi maior nas lesões com displasia epitelial. A transformação maligna em carcinoma espinocelular oral ocorreu em 10/39 (25,6%) dos casos, onde a presença de displasia epitelial aparentou ser um fator de risco relevante. A diversidade bacteriana foi semelhante entre os indivíduos do grupo caso que sofreram ou não malignização, porém, a abundância dos gêneros Capnocytophaga, Finegoldia, Prevotella e Prevotella 2 foi maior nas amostras que sofreram malignização, mesmo antes do processo acontecer. Não encontramos diferenças na composição bacteriana entre os dois tempos de coleta, ao diagnóstico e após aproximadamente um ano, e também não observamos diferenças significativas na quantidade de DNA bacteriano e humano. Ao inferirmos as vias metabólicas derivadas das bactérias identificadas nas amostras, observamos também similaridade entre os grupos caso e controle, e apenas duas vias preditas apresentaram abundância com diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre ambos. Dessa maneira, nossos resultados sugerem que distúrbios orais potencialmente malignos podem estar associados a uma disbiose do microbioma oral, e que alguns gêneros bacterianos podem ser potenciais biomarcadores ou agentes importantes neste processo biológico.

Oral potentially malignant disorders have a higher risk of becoming cancer than healthy mucosal tissues. However, up until now, the literature did not define the role of the microbiota in the origin and development of malignancy in these lesions. Thus, here we conducted a longitudinal, prospective, and quantitative case-control study where we evaluated the bacterial composition of the oral microbiome in patients with potentially malignant lesions. Therefore, we used a structured questionnaire and performed oral swabs on patients with leukoplakia, erythroplakia, lichen planus, oral lichenoid lesion, and healthy controls. A total of 60 individuals, collected between 2018 to 2020, were enrolled in the study, of which 39 were cases and 21 were controls. The majority of patients were female (42/60; 70%) with a mean age of 57 years and over half of the individuals were non-smokers (35/60; 58.3%) and alcoholics (36/60; 60%). Among the diagnoses, there were oral lichen planus/oral lichenoid lesion (13/39), homogeneous leukoplakia (10/39), erythroleukoplakia (8/39), proliferative verrucous leukoplakia (6/39) and erythroplakia (2/39). The tongue edge was the most common location affected, with the majority having multiple sites (21/39). Epithelial dysplasia was assessed in the lesions, except for lichen planus and lichenoid lesions, and 18 patients had some degree of dysplasia. A total of 73 samples had the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene amplified and sequenced, in which 60 samples were collected at diagnosis (first collection point) and 13 samples were collected after approximately a year (second moment of collection). At least 03/13 of these patients were later diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma. We identified a higher amount of bacterial per human genomes in the samples of the case group, however, the bacterial diversity and composition were similar between cases and controls. We identified 9 phyla, 15 classes, 24 orders, 47 families, and 67 bacterial genera. The most abundant genus was Streptococcus in both groups, with lower relative frequency in the individuals with potentially malignant lesions. We found a higher abundance of the genera Granulicatella and Blautia in the cases and lower abundance of Methylobacterium, Lautropia, and Oribacterium. We also observed that the abundance of Granulicatella and Bergeyella increased in the lesions with epithelial dysplasia. Malignant transformation into oral squamous cell carcinoma occurred in 10/39 (25.6%) of the cases patients, where the presence of epithelial dysplasia was a relevant risk factor. The bacterial diversity was similar between the individuals in the case group regardless if they malignized or not, however, the abundance of the genera Capnocytophaga, Finegoldia, Prevotella, and Prevotella 2 was higher in the samples that underwent malignization, even before this process took place. We did not find significant differences in the bacterial composition between the two collection points and we also did not observe significant differences in their amount of bacterial and human DNA. When inferring the metabolic pathways derived from the bacteria identified in the samples, we also observed similarity between the case and control groups, and only two predicted pathways showed abundance with statistically significant differences between them. Thus, our results suggest that potentially malignant oral disorders may be associated with a dysbiosis of the oral microbiome, and that some bacterial genera may be potential biomarkers or important agents in this biological process.

Dental changes in children with congenital Zika syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: To describe oral alterations in children with congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). METHODS: This was a case series, whose research instrument was a structured questionnaire, associated with the use of medical record data and extra and intraoral clinical examination. RESULTS: Thirty-two children were evaluated, the majority male (18/32%-56.3%), mean age 22 months (SD = 2.71). It was also observed that the majority of the patients (19/32%-59.4%) presented a low family income. All the children had a mean head circumference of 29.43 cm (SD = 1.42). Regarding the alterations, an ogival-shaped palate was observed in 14 children (43.7%), and delayed chronology of eruption was observed in 15 children (46.9%), of whom 7 children (21.9%) did not present eruption of the upper left lateral incisor (p = .0002) and upper right lateral incisor (p = .002) until the moment of analysis. Additionally, 03 children with yellowish dental pigmentation were identified in erupted teeth after the onset of phenobarbital use. Enamel hypoplasia was identified in 9 children (28.1%) and only one child with ankyloglossia. CONCLUSION: CZS may present delayed chronology of eruption, ankyloglossia, ogival-shaped palate, and enamel hypoplasia, requiring dental follow-up aimed at prevention, promotion, and rehabilitation of the health of these children.