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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Anthony De SoyzaORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2024 The Authors. Background and objective: This study explored the relationship between total bacterial density, airway microbiota composition and clinical parameters in bronchiectasis. We determined changes with time during clinical stability and following antibiotic treatment of a pulmonary exacerbation. Methods: We conducted a multicentre longitudinal cohort study of UK participants with CT confirmed bronchiectasis. Sputum samples and clinical parameters [FEV1% predicted, lung clearance index, C-reactive protein, white cell count and Quality of Life] were collected when participants were clinically stable and pre/post-antibiotic treatment of an exacerbation. Total bacterial density and microbiota community composition was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and sequencing of the V4 region of bacterial 16S rRNA, respectively. Results: Among 105 participants at baseline, 65 (62 %) were female with a mean age of 65 years and FEV1 at 69 % predicted. In participants who remained clinically stable (n = 15), no significant changes were observed in bacterial density, microbiota diversity, richness, evenness, and dominance (p = 0.30, 0.45, 0.54, 0.23 and 0.43; respectively) across four time points over a 1-year period. Similarly, for participants with paired pre/post-antibiotic treatment samples (n = 19), no significant changes were observed (p = 0.30, 0.46, 0.44, 0.71 and 0.58; respectively). However, considerable fluctuation in community composition between samples was apparent for most patients. Total bacterial density and microbiota composition did not correlate with clinical parameters at baseline (n = 75). Conclusions: Stability in bacterial density and microbiota diversity, richness, evenness and dominance was observed over time at a population level but considerable fluctuation was apparent in samples from individual patients.
Author(s): Alfahl Z, Einarsson GG, Elborn JS, Gilpin DF, O'Neill K, Ferguson K, Hill AT, Loebinger MR, Carroll M, Gatheral T, De Soyza A, Chalmers JD, Johnson C, Hurst JR, Brown JS, Bradley JM, Tunney MM
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Respiratory Medicine
Year: 2025
Volume: 236
Print publication date: 01/01/2025
Online publication date: 04/12/2024
Acceptance date: 03/12/2024
Date deposited: 07/01/2025
ISSN (print): 0954-6111
ISSN (electronic): 1532-3064
Publisher: W.B. Saunders Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmed.2024.107906
DOI: 10.1016/j.rmed.2024.107906
Data Access Statement: Appendix A. Supplementary data Download all supplementary files included with this article What’s this? The following are the Supplementary data to this article. Download: Download Word document (34KB) Multimedia component 1. Supplementary Materials: detailed description of the study inclusion and exclusion criteria, detailed description of the clinical parameters measured in the study, detailed description of the DNA extraction protocol and qPCR assays used in the study and additional statistical analysis. Supplementary tables: Table S1: Time difference between timepoints at which samples and clinical parameters were collected in the study. Table S2: Primers and Probes for the 16S rRNA qPCR assay. Table S3: qPCR conditions for the 16S rRNA qPCR assay. Table S4: Antibiotics prescribed for treatment of pulmonary exacerbations in participants (Group 2; n = 19). Supplementary figures: Fig. S1: Total bacterial density quantified by qPCR across 4 stable visits in clinically stable particip
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