Abstract
BackgroundData on the lung microbiome in HIV-infected children is limited. The current study sought to determine the lung microbiome in HIV-associated bronchiectasis and to assess its association with pulmonary exacerbations.MethodsA cross-sectional pilot study of 22 children (68% male; mean age 10.8 years) with HIV-associated bronchiectasis and a control group of 5 children with cystic fibrosis (CF). Thirty-one samples were collected, with 11 during exacerbations. Sputum samples were processed with 16S rRNA pyrosequencing.ResultsThe average number of operational taxonomy units (OTUs) was 298 ± 67 vs. 434 ± 90, for HIV-bronchiectasis and CF, respectively. The relative abundance of Proteobacteria was higher in HIV-bronchiectasis (72.3%), with only 22.2% Firmicutes. There was no correlation between lung functions (FEV1% and FEF25/75%) and bacterial community (r = 0.154; p = 0.470 and r = 0.178; p = 0.403), respectively. Bacterial assemblage of exacerbation and non-exacerbation samples in HIV-bronchiectasis was not significantly different (ANOSIM, RHIV-bronchiectasis = 0.08; p = 0.14 and RCF = 0.08, p = 0.50). Higher within-community heterogeneity and lower evenness was associated with CF (Shannon-Weiner (H′) = 5.39 ± 0.38 and Pielou’s evenness (J) 0.79 ± 0.10 vs. HIV-bronchiectasis (Shannon-Weiner (H′) = 4.45 ± 0.49 and Pielou’s (J) 0.89 ± 0.03.ConclusionThe microbiome in children with HIV-associated bronchiectasis seems to be less rich, diverse and heterogeneous with predominance of Proteobacteria when compared to cystic fibrosis.
Highlights
Data on the lung microbiome in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children is limited
Bronchiectasis is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that, in high-income countries, has been declining outside of the context of cystic fibrosis (CF) in children, as compared to adults where the incidence and prevalence is on the rise [1]
Setting Children were recruited during routine or unscheduled visits at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital, Chest Clinic, Pretoria, South Africa during a 17-month period between May 2013 and October 2014. This clinic serves as a referral centre for children from Tshwane Metropolitan region in Gauteng with over 2.5 million children living in a peri-urban setting, where 27.0% of the people live in informal settlements with a high HIV prevalence rate at 11.2% in 2015
Summary
Data on the lung microbiome in HIV-infected children is limited. The current study sought to determine the lung microbiome in HIV-associated bronchiectasis and to assess its association with pulmonary exacerbations. Bronchiectasis is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that, in high-income countries, has been declining outside of the context of cystic fibrosis (CF) in children, as compared to adults where the incidence and prevalence is on the rise [1]. This is not so in low-middle income countries and some economically disadvantaged groups in high-income countries [2,3,4]. There has been a renewed interest in research on the microbial community in the lung of individuals in both diseased and in healthy lungs; this research is based on culture-independent phylogenetic profiling approaches based on genetic biomarkers such as 16S rRNA sequencing [7, 8]
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