Complex sputum microbial composition in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis

Abstract

BackgroundAn increasing number of studies have implicated the microbiome in certain diseases, especially chronic diseases. In this study, the bacterial communities in the sputum of pulmonary tuberculosis patients were explored. Total DNA was extracted from sputum samples from 31 pulmonary tuberculosis patients and respiratory secretions of 24 healthy participants. The 16S rRNA V3 hyper-variable regions were amplified using bar-coded primers and pyro-sequenced using Roche 454 FLX.ResultsThe results showed that the microbiota in the sputum of pulmonary tuberculosis patients were more diverse than those of healthy participants (p<0.05). The sequences were classified into 24 phyla, all of which were found in pulmonary tuberculosis patients and 17 of which were found in healthy participants. Furthermore, many foreign bacteria, such as Stenotrophomonas, Cupriavidus, Pseudomonas, Thermus, Sphingomonas, Methylobacterium, Diaphorobacter, Comamonas, and Mobilicoccus, were unique to pulmonary tuberculosis patients.ConclusionsThis study concluded that the microbial composition of the respiratory tract of pulmonary tuberculosis patients is more complicated than that of healthy participants, and many foreign bacteria were found in the sputum of pulmonary tuberculosis patients. The roles of these foreign bacteria in the onset or development of pulmonary tuberculosis shoud be considered by clinicians.

Sputum Microbiota Associated with New, Recurrent and Treatment Failure Tuberculosis

“…However, we found differences in relative abundance of some special microbial composition between TB patients and healthy controls (Figure 4). Genera Streptococcus , Granulicatella , Actinomyces , Prevotella , and Veillonella were predominant in both TB patients and healthy controls, which is consistent with recent studies [12,13]. Stenotrophomonas and Pseudomonas were found to be unique in TB patients in a previous study [12], but in our study these genera were found in healthy controls with percentage of 35% and 55%, respectively.…”

“…However, the TB sputum microbiome in Cui’s study has a higher diversity than that in healthy controls [12] whereas we found that healthy microbiome is more diverse than the TB groups though without statistical significance. Several factors may help to explain the discrepancy.…”

The microbiome at the pulmonary alveolar niche and its role in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection

“…One study found increased diversity in the TB lung as compared to the healthy lung (Cui, et al, 2012), while another found no differences in diversity between the two(Cheung, et al, 2013). In this, the TB lung appears to mirror studies of the healthy lung, where reports of increased diversity being associated with disease (Huang, et al, 2011) are conflicted by other reports finding no disease-associated diversity differences (Cabrera-Rubio, et al, 2012).…”

“…The first, in 2012, found that healthy and Mtb-infected lungs shared many organisms, including Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria, with Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes dominating (Cui et al, 2012). This is consistent with other reports from healthy lungs (Borewicz, et al, 2013; Erb-Downward, et al, 2011; Hilty, et al, 2010).…”

“…Taken together, the four studies of the lung microbiome in TB through early 2015 include only 134 TB patients and 64 controls, with all but one site located within China (Botero, et al, 2014; Cheung, et al, 2013; Cui, et al, 2012; Wu, et al, 2013). Early attempts to determine the composition of the gut microbiome were hampered by a lack of sample diversity, and further study, including sampling of sites in other regions of the world where Mtb is endemic (e.g.…”