Abstract
BackgroundThe microbiota of the lower respiratory tract in patients with non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) has not been fully evaluated. We explored the role of the lung microbiota in NTM-PD by analyzing protected specimen brushing (PSB) and bronchial washing samples from patients with NTM-PD obtained using a flexible bronchoscope.ResultsBronchial washing and PSB samples from the NTM-PD group tended to have fewer OTUs and lower Chao1 richness values compared with those from the control group. In both bronchial washing and PSB samples, beta diversity was significantly lower in the NTM-PD group than in the control group (P = 2.25E-6 and P = 4.13E-4, respectively). Principal component analysis showed that the PSBs and bronchial washings exhibited similar patterns within each group but differed between the two groups. The volcano plots indicated differences in several phyla and genera between the two groups.ConclusionsThe lower respiratory tract of patients with NTM-PD has a unique microbiota distribution that is low in richness/diversity.
Highlights
The microbiota of the lower respiratory tract in patients with non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) has not been fully evaluated
Clinical characteristics A total of 14 and 10 subjects were enrolled in the NTMPD and control groups, respectively
Three subjects in the Nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM)-PD group were excluded because acid-fast bacillary (AFB) cultures of bronchial washings were negative
Summary
The microbiota of the lower respiratory tract in patients with non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) has not been fully evaluated. We explored the role of the lung microbiota in NTM-PD by analyzing protected specimen brushing (PSB) and bronchial washing samples from patients with NTM-PD obtained using a flexible bronchoscope. As integral components of various organ systems, these participate in diverse cellular processes and metabolism and affect the development of various diseases. Various populations of microorganisms living in diverse cellular compartments modulate immune system function, the aberrant metabolism that triggers chronic inflammation, and cellular transformation [14,15,16,17,18,19,20]. The role of the microbiota in respiratory disease is unclear
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