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Published on: August 7, 2017
Sphingolipid metabolism potential in fecal microbiome and bronchiolitis in infants: a case-control study
Kohei Hasegawa1, Christopher J Stewart2, Jonathan M Mansbach3
1Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 125 Nashua Street, Suite 920, Boston, MA, 02114-1101, USA. khasegawa1@partners.org.
Insights
Infant fecal microbiome function differs in bronchiolitis. Sphingolipid metabolism pathways were higher in infants with bronchiolitis, suggesting a link between gut bacteria, immunity, and disease development.
Area of Science:
- Microbiome research
- Infant health
- Metabolic pathways
Background:
- The infant fecal microbiome's structure is linked to bronchiolitis risk.
- Functional profiles of the infant fecal microbiome in bronchiolitis remain unexamined.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the functional profiles of the fecal microbiome in infants with bronchiolitis.
- To compare functional capabilities between infants with bronchiolitis and healthy controls.
Main Methods:
- A case-control study involving 40 infants hospitalized with bronchiolitis and 115 healthy controls.
- 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used to determine fecal microbiome taxonomic profiles.
- Functional capabilities were inferred from taxonomic data to identify differences between groups.
Main Results:
- Significant differences in 37 out of 274 surveyed metabolic pathways were observed between cases and controls (FDR < 0.05).
- Infants with bronchiolitis showed higher abundances of gene functions related to sphingolipid metabolic pathways (FDR < 0.05).
- These pathways were more prevalent in infants with a Bacteroides-dominant microbiome (FDR < 0.001).
Conclusions:
- The functional potential of the fecal microbiome differs significantly between infants with bronchiolitis and healthy controls.
- Findings suggest a potential association between bacteria-derived metabolites, host immune response modulation, and bronchiolitis development.
- Further research is needed to establish causal inferences.
Objective:
Emerging evidence demonstrated that the structure of fecal microbiome is associated with the likelihood of bronchiolitis in infants. However, no study has examined functional profiles of fecal microbiome in infants with bronchiolitis. In this context, we conducted a case-control study. As a part of multicenter prospective study, we collected stool samples from 40 infants hospitalized with bronchiolitis (cases). We concurrently enrolled 115 age-matched healthy controls.
Results:
First, by applying 16S rRNA gene sequencing to these 155 fecal samples, we identified the taxonomic profiles of fecal microbiome. Next, based on the taxonomy data, we inferred the functional capabilities of fecal microbiome and tested for differences in the functional capabilities between cases and controls. Overall, the median age was 3 months and 45% were female. Among 274 metabolic pathways surveyed, there were significant differences between bronchiolitis cases and healthy controls for 37 pathways, including lipid metabolic pathways (false discovery rate [FDR] <0.05). Particularly, the fecal microbiome of bronchiolitis cases had consistently higher abundances of gene function related to the sphingolipid metabolic pathways compared to that of controls (FDR <0.05). These pathways were more abundant in infants with Bacteroides-dominant microbiome profile compared to the others (FDR <0.001). On the basis of the predicted metagenome in this case-control study, we found significant differences in the functional potential of fecal microbiome between infants with bronchiolitis and healthy controls. Although causal inferences remain premature, our data suggest a potential link between the bacteria-derived metabolites, modulations of host immune response, and development of bronchiolitis.
