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Updated: Jul 1, 2025
Noninvasive Sampling of Mucosal Lining Fluid for the Quantification of In Vivo Upper Airway Immune-mediator Levels
Published on: August 7, 2017
Early-life nasal microbiota dynamics relate to longitudinal respiratory phenotypes in urban children
Kathryn E McCauley1, Juliana Durack1, Kole V Lynch1
1Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, Calif.
Insights
Early-life nasal microbiota development and composition are linked to respiratory phenotypes in urban children. Environmental exposures influence this airway microbiota window, impacting wheeze and atopy through age seven.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric respiratory health
- Microbiome research
- Environmental exposures
Background:
- Five distinct respiratory phenotypes in urban children (ages 0-7) have been identified based on wheezing, allergic sensitization, and pulmonary function.
- Understanding the factors influencing these phenotypes is crucial for early intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between distinct respiratory phenotypes and the development of upper respiratory microbiota in early life.
- To explore the role of environmental microbial exposures in shaping these associations.
Main Methods:
- 16S ribosomal RNA-based sequencing was used for microbiota profiling of nasal and paired house dust samples.
- Samples were collected from children in the Urban Environment and Childhood Asthma (URECA) cohort at 12 and 36 months of age.
- Data from 120-142 nasal samples and 73-90 dust samples across four centers were analyzed.
Main Results:
- Nasal microbiota diversity increased significantly between 12 and 36 months (P = .006).
- Microbiota evenness changes varied by respiratory phenotype, notably increasing in the transient wheeze group.
- Moraxella and Haemophilus enrichment at 12 months associated with transient and high-wheeze phenotypes; Moraxella dominance at 36 months linked to atopy-associated phenotypes.
Conclusions:
- Nasal microbiota development and 3-year composition correlate with longitudinal respiratory phenotypes.
- An early-life window for airway microbiota development exists, influenced by infant environmental exposures.
- These findings link early microbiota to wheeze and atopy phenotypes persisting through age seven.
Background:
Five distinct respiratory phenotypes based on latent classes of longitudinal patterns of wheezing, allergic sensitization. and pulmonary function measured in urban children from ages from 0 to 7 years have previously been described.
Objective:
Our aim was to determine whether distinct respiratory phenotypes are associated with early-life upper respiratory microbiota development and environmental microbial exposures.
Methods:
Microbiota profiling was performed using 16S ribosomal RNA-based sequencing of nasal samples collected at age 12 months (n = 120) or age 36 months (n = 142) and paired house dust samples collected at 3 months (12-month, n = 73; 36-month, n = 90) from all 4 centers in the Urban Environment and Childhood Asthma (URECA) cohort.
Results:
In these high-risk urban children, nasal microbiota increased in diversity between ages 12 and 36 months (ß = 2.04; P = .006). Age-related changes in microbiota evenness differed significantly by respiratory phenotypes (interaction P = .0007), increasing most in the transient wheeze group. At age 12 months, respiratory illness (R2 = 0.055; P = .0001) and dominant bacterial genus (R2 = 0.59; P = .0001) explained variance in nasal microbiota composition, and enrichment of Moraxella and Haemophilus members was associated with both transient and high-wheeze respiratory phenotypes. By age 36 months, nasal microbiota was significantly associated with respiratory phenotypes (R2 = 0.019; P = .0376), and Moraxella-dominated microbiota was associated specifically with atopy-associated phenotypes. Analysis of paired house dust and nasal samples indicated that 12 month olds with low wheeze and atopy incidence exhibited the largest number of shared bacterial taxa with their environment.
Conclusion:
Nasal microbiota development over the course of early childhood and composition at age 3 years are associated with longitudinal respiratory phenotypes. These data provide evidence supporting an early-life window of airway microbiota development that is influenced by environmental microbial exposures in infancy and associates with wheeze- and atopy-associated respiratory phenotypes through age 7 years.
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