Due to advances in therapeutic efficacy and clinical care in developed countries, susceptibility of HIV patients to opportunistic oral infections has been dramatically reduced [37, 38]. However, www.selleckchem.com/products/napabucasin.html worldwide, where the vast majority of HIV infected individuals do not have access to basic clinical care or therapy, oral complications remain a serious problem [39, 40]. Large-scale sampling

from an appropriate range of geographic and cultural regions and collation of data from multiple studies will lead to a more complete understanding of host-microbe dysbiosis in HIV infection. To that end, the HOMIM and similar high throughput methodologies designed for rapid identification of microbial profiles may represent ideal cost-effective tools for accomplishing such ambitious large-scale endeavors. Methods Patients and sample collection All participants were enrolled

through the Center for AIDS Research, https://www.selleckchem.com/products/MG132.html Education and Services (CARES) clinic in Sacramento, CA after providing informed written consent. The research was carried out according to Institutional Review Board VX-770 supplier (IRB)-approved procedures (219139–5) and in compliance with the Helsinki Declaration. The oral health status of each patient was determined prior to participation in the study, including any recent or concurrent periodontal procedures and history of candidiasis and other oral infections. Patients undergoing antibiotic or antimycotic treatment were excluded from the study. Pertinent clinical data was also obtained on all participants. These data included duration of HIV infection, CBC with differential, CD4+/CD8+ T cell numbers (blood was not collected from 2 of the 9 uninfected control subjects), peripheral blood HIV viral loads, and duration of antiretroviral therapy. Peripheral blood viral load assays were performed at the CARES clinical lab using the Amplicor HIV-1 Assay (Roche Molecular Diagnostics). Two-sided Satterthwaite’s and Student’s t-tests Y-27632 2HCl were utilized to determine the statistical significance

of differences in T cell subsets between uninfected controls and HIV infected patient groups. During the same clinical appointment that blood samples were obtained, tongue epithelial samples were collected utilizing non-invasive swabbing of the dorsal surface. Briefly, MasterAmp Buccal Swabs© (Epicentre Biotechnologies, Inc) were used to collect epithelial cells and resident microbes, and DNA was extracted utilizing the protocols and reagents provided in the Epicentre MasterAmp© kit. Extracted DNA was transferred into new tubes and stored at −20°C until HOMIM analysis. HOMIM processing Identification of oral bacterial species and quantitation of their relative proportions was carried out using the Human Oral Microbe Identification Microarray, or HOMIM [41].