Role of Upper Respiratory Microbiota and Virome in Childhood Rhinitis and Wheeze: Collegium Internationale Allergologicum Update 2021

Abstract

There is emerging evidence that the respiratory microbiota influences airway health, and there has been intense research interest in its role in respiratory infections and allergic airway disorders. This review aims to summarize current knowledge of nasal microbiome and virome and their associations with childhood rhinitis and wheeze. The healthy infant nasal microbiome is dominated by <i>Corynebacteriaceae</i> and <i>Staphylococcaceae</i>. In contrast, infants who subsequently develop respiratory disorders are depleted of these microbes and are instead enriched with <i>Proteobacteria spp.</i> Although human rhinovirus and human respiratory syncytial virus are well-documented major viral pathogens that trigger rhinitis and wheezing disorders in infants, recent limited data indicate that bacteriophages may have a role in respiratory health. Future work investigating the interplay between commensal microbiota, virome, and host immunological responses is an important step toward understanding the dynamics of the nasal community in order to develop a strategical approach to combat these common childhood respiratory disorders.

Metagenomics characterization of respiratory viral RNA pathogens in children under five years with severe acute respiratory infection in the Free State, South Africa

“…While some of these nonhuman viruses were sparsely detected, reads for bacteriophages were consistently detected at varying amount in all participants. This support previous reports on HA of bacteriophages in the respiratory tract with the potential to prime and modulate host immune responses in children 39,40 . Additionally, mNGS further enabled the simultaneous detection of bacteria co‐infection in 24 (28.5%) patients despite enrichment for RNA viruses.…”

Identifying and validating a minimum panel of important features for allergic diseases by machine-learning and deep-learning algorithms in school children aged 6-14 years

“…For instance, boys had an increased risk of experiencing allergic disease relative to girls as reported by the majority of studies [28][29][30][31] , consistent with the ndings of the present study, as sex was listed among the top features when predicting the risk for asthma, rhinitis and eczema in children. The reasons for this sex-speci c contribution are not fully understood; however, it might be interpreted by the varying responses to environmental or occupational exposures involving immunological and hormonal factors between boys and girls [32][33][34][35] . The same cases were found for upper respiratory infection and age.…”

Potential targeted therapy based on deep insight into the relationship between the pulmonary microbiota and immune regulation in lung fibrosis

“…Therefore, it breaks the traditional opinion that the upper respiratory tract is the only source of microorganisms in the lower respiratory tract. Besides, we found that respiratory tract microbes may be various in different populations, such as newborns ( 11 ). Biological colonization also has specific differences because of other delivery methods ( 12 ).…”