The Oral Microbiome and Women’s Systemic Infections

The oral microbiome is a high-impact interface between microbial exposure and host immunity, and growing evidence suggests it can shape inflammatory tone and infection susceptibility across women’s health. This Research Topic, “The Oral Microbiome and Women’s Systemic Infections,” will examine how oral dysbiosis and gingival/periodontal inflammation influence systemic immune regulation and susceptibility to infection across key hormonal and physiological life stages, including menstruation-related immune shifts, contraception and hormone therapy, fertility care, the peripartum period, and menopause. Submissions should keep the oral cavity as the starting point (oral microbial ecology, periodontal disease activity, and oral tissue immune responses) and then demonstrate clear downstream systemic immune consequences relevant to infection biology.A central focus is work that tests whether oral inflammation is an active driver of systemic immune activation (rather than a passive correlate), using longitudinal, interventional, and/or mechanistic designs. Pregnancy is a priority window, where immune tolerance and vascular adaptation may be vulnerable to inflammatory perturbation; obstetric outcomes (e.g., preterm birth, fetal growth restriction, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy) are within scope when anchored to oral microbial/host pathways and supported by temporality and mechanistic immune evidence. We particularly welcome “precision” immune profiling (e.g., single-cell approaches, CyTOF, multiplex panels) when used to clarify mechanism, immune cell states, and causal pathways, including barrier dysfunction and pathways consistent with microbial product translocation or dissemination.We welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:-Oral dysbiosis, periodontal disease, and oral mucosal immunity as determinants of systemic immune tone and infection susceptibility in women.-Modulation of oral microbial ecology and host immune responses by hormonal transitions (menstruation, contraception and hormone therapy, fertility treatment, pregnancy, lactation, menopause).-Mechanistic oral–systemic pathways, including innate immune priming (monocytes/neutrophils), cytokine/acute-phase signaling, endothelial activation, barrier dysfunction, and microbial product translocation/dissemination.-Pregnancy-focused studies connecting oral inflammation and/or oral microbial states to placental/uterine immune biology and maternal immune tolerance through defined immune or inflammatory mechanisms.-Precision immunology approaches that identify predictive immune/inflammatory signatures beyond conventional single markers (including immune cell–state mapping and multi-analyte profiling aligned to mechanistic hypotheses).-Designs addressing temporality and causality (prospective cohorts with repeated sampling, longitudinal multi-omics, interventional trials, mechanistic models) showing oral inflammation precedes systemic immune changes and/or that reducing oral inflammation improves systemic immune phenotypes.-Potential effects of the maternal oral microbiome and periodontal inflammation on breastfeeding/lactation-associated immune factors and the early-life development of infant innate immunity, supported by defined mechanisms and measurable maternal–infant immune outcomes. Topic editors: Hatem A. Alhadainy, Tamara Teodoro Araujo Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78120/the-oral-microbiome-and-womens-systemic-infections