Airway Microbiota in Severe Asthma and Relationship to Asthma Severity and Phenotypes.
<h4>Background</h4>The lower airways harbor a community of bacterial species which is altered in asthma.<h4>Objectives</h4>We examined whether the lower airway microbiota were related to measures of asthma severity.<h4>Methods</h4>We prospectively recruited 26 sev...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2016-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0152724&type=printable |
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| Summary: | <h4>Background</h4>The lower airways harbor a community of bacterial species which is altered in asthma.<h4>Objectives</h4>We examined whether the lower airway microbiota were related to measures of asthma severity.<h4>Methods</h4>We prospectively recruited 26 severe asthma, 18 non-severe asthma and 12 healthy subjects. DNA was extracted from induced sputum and PCR amplification of the V3-V5 region of bacterial 16S rRNA gene was performed.<h4>Results</h4>We obtained 138,218 high quality sequences which were rarefied at 133 sequences/sample. Twenty OTUs had sequences ≥1% of total. There were marked differences in the distribution of Phyla between groups (P = 2.8x10-118). Bacteroidetes and Fusobacteria were reduced in non-severe and severe asthmatic groups. Proteobacteria were more common in non-severe asthmatics compared to controls (OR = 2.26; 95% CI = 1.94-2.64) and Firmicutes were increased in severe asthmatics compared to controls (OR = 2.15; 95%CI = 1.89-2.45). Streptococcal OTUs amongst the Firmicutes were associated with recent onset asthma, rhinosinusitis and sputum eosinophilia.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Sputum microbiota in severe asthma differs from healthy controls and non-severe asthmatics, and is characterized by the presence of Streptococcus spp with eosinophilia. Whether these organisms are causative for the pathophysiology of asthma remains to be determined. |
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| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |