Concordance between upper and lower airway microbiota in infants with cystic fibrosis

摘要

Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal samples are commonly used to direct therapy for lower respiratory tract infections in non-expectorating infants with cystic fibrosis (CF).We aimed to investigate the concordance between the bacterial community compositions of 25 sets of nasopharyngeal; oropharyngeal and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples from 17 infants with CF aged xe2x88xbc5xe2x80x85months (n=13) and xe2x88xbc12xe2x80x85months (n=12) using conventional culturing and 16S-rRNA sequencing.Clustering analyses demonstrated that BAL microbiota profiles were in general characterised by a mixture of oral and nasopharyngeal bacteria; including commensals like Streptococcus; Neisseria; Veillonella and Rothia spp. and potential pathogens like Staphylococcus aureus; Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella spp. Within each individual; however; the degree of concordance differed between microbiota of both upper respiratory tract niches and the corresponding BAL.The inconsistent intra-individual concordance between microbiota of the upper and lower respiratory niches suggests that the lungs of infants with CF may have their own microbiome that seems seeded by; but is not identical to; the upper respiratory tract microbiome.