Abstract
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that targets CD4+ T lymphocytes, leading to immune dysfunction, increased susceptibility to infections, and gut microbiome dysbiosis. At the same time, depression is highly prevalent among individuals living with HIV, with antidepressants commonly prescribed to treat depressive symptoms While antidepressant use has been shown to influence the gut microbiome of individuals without HIV, little is known regarding the effects of antidepressants on a gut microbiome altered by HIV, where they may exert unintended, off-target effects beyond their primary neurological function. In this study, we investigated the microbiome composition, diversity, and predicted functional potential of HIV-positive patients with depression on and off antidepressants to assess whether antidepressant use further alters the gut microbiome. Using 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing data, we performed alpha and beta diversity analyses to evaluate within-sample and between-sample microbiome variation, which resulted in no notable differences in microbiome diversity between HIV-positive individuals with depression on and off antidepressants. Indicator taxa analysis and differential abundance testing to identify taxa associated with antidepressant use revealed no significant indicator genera or differentially abundant taxa between experimental groups. Furthermore, using PICRUSt2, no significant differences were identified in the predicted metabolic pathways between HIV-positive patients with depression on and off antidepressants. Overall, our findings suggest that antidepressant use is not associated with major changes in gut microbiome composition, diversity, or predicted function in HIV-positive individuals with depression. However, given the limitations of this study, subtler effects on the gut microbiome may not have been detected.