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Noninvasive Sampling of Mucosal Lining Fluid for the Quantification of In Vivo Upper Airway Immune-mediator Levels
Published on: August 7, 2017
Microbial and metabolomic profiling of the upper respiratory tract in children with asthma
Lina Xu1, Qianjun Wan2, Quying Yang1
1Department of Respiratory Medicine, Children's Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
Insights
Asthma in children alters the upper respiratory tract microbiome and metabolome. L-carnitine shows potential as a biomarker for asthma assessment, correlating with lung function.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Metabolomics
- Pediatric Pulmonology
Background:
- Asthma is a chronic respiratory condition affecting children worldwide.
- The upper respiratory tract (URT) microbiome and metabolome play a role in respiratory health.
- Understanding URT changes in pediatric asthma is crucial for diagnosis and management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate characteristic changes in the URT microbiome and metabolome in children with asthma.
- To explore the associations between these changes and lung function in pediatric asthma patients.
Main Methods:
- Recruited children with asthma and age-matched healthy controls.
- Collected throat swabs for 16S rDNA sequencing (microbiome) and LC-MS (metabolomics).
- Analyzed URT microbiome diversity, composition, and metabolite profiles.
Main Results:
- Significant differences in URT microbiome diversity were found between asthma groups and controls.
- URT microbiota abundance correlated negatively with lung function indices (FVC% predicted, FEV1% predicted).
- L-carnitine identified as a potential asthma biomarker (AUC > 0.9), with other metabolites correlating with lung function.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric asthma is associated with altered URT microbiome composition and diversity.
- Specific genera (e.g., Actinobacillus) correlate with lung function parameters.
- L-carnitine emerges as a promising biomarker for asthma assessment in children.
Background:
This study aimed to investigate characteristic changes in the upper respiratory tract (URT) microbiome and metabolome in children with asthma and explore their associations with lung function.
Methods:
Children with asthma aged 6 years and above admitted to the Children's Hospital of Soochow University from December 2022 to December 2023 comprised the study group. Age-matched healthy children undergoing physical examinations in the Department of Child Health were recruited as controls. Throat swabs were collected for microbiome detection using 16S rDNA sequencing and metabolomics analysis using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS).
Results:
(1) Significant differences in alpha and beta diversity were observed among the control group (H), chronic persistent asthma group (CA), and acute exacerbation group (AA). In both CA and AA groups, FVC% predicted (FVC%/Pred) and FEV1% predicted (FEV1%/Pred) were negatively correlated with URT microbiota abundance. Actinobacillus abundance was positively correlated with FEV1%/Pred, FEV1/FVC, FEF25%/Pred, FEF50%/Pred, and FEF75%/Pred. (2) Metabolite differences between CA and AA groups were analyzed, and the top 5 differential metabolites were evaluated for their accuracy as asthma assessment biomarkers. L-carnitine showed an AUC > 0.9, with a sensitivity of 85.7% and specificity of 85%. Other differential metabolites, including monoisobutyl phthalate, 4-hexyl-2,5-dimethyloxazole, and dibutyl phthalate, correlated with several lung function indices. The most relevant differential metabolic pathways included arginine biosynthesis, alanine-aspartate-glutamate metabolism, central carbon metabolism in cancer, and D-amino acid metabolism.
Conclusion:
The URT microbiota in asthmatic children exhibits alterations in composition, structure, and diversity, with lower diversity in acute asthma compared to chronic persistent asthma. At the genus level, some microbiota (Actinobacillus, Fusobacterium) were correlated with FEV1%/Pred, FEV1/FVC, FEF25%/Pred, FEF50%/Pred, FEF75%/Pred. The differential metabolite L-carnitine may be a potential biomarker for asthma assessment.
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