Alterations of Bacteroides sp., Neisseria sp., Actinomyces sp., and Streptococcus sp. populations in the oropharyngeal microbiome are associated with liver cirrhosis and pneumonia

Abstract

BackgroundThe microbiomes of humans are associated with liver and lung inflammation. We identified and verified alterations of the oropharyngeal microbiome and assessed their association with cirrhosis and pneumonia.MethodsStudy components were as follows: (1) determination of the temporal stability of the oropharyngeal microbiome; (2) identification of oropharyngeal microbial variation in 90 subjects; (3) quantitative identification of disease-associated bacteria. DNAs enriched in bacterial sequences were produced from low-biomass oropharyngeal swabs using whole genome amplification and were analyzed using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis.ResultsWhole genome amplification combined with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis monitored successfully oropharyngeal microbial variations and showed that the composition of each subject’s oropharyngeal microbiome remained relatively stable during the follow-up. The microbial composition of cirrhotic patients with pneumonia differed from those of others and clustered together in subgroup analysis. Further, species richness and the value of Shannon’s diversity and evenness index increased significantly in patients with cirrhosis and pneumonia versus others (p < 0.001, versus healthy controls; p < 0.01, versus cirrhotic patients without pneumonia). Moreover, we identified variants of Bacteroides, Eubacterium, Lachnospiraceae, Neisseria, Actinomyces, and Streptococcus through phylogenetic analysis. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays revealed that the populations of Bacteroides, Neisseria, and Actinomycetes increased, while that of Streptococcus decreased in cirrhotic patients with pneumonia versus others (p < 0.001, versus Healthy controls; p < 0.01, versus cirrhotic patients without pneumonia).ConclusionsAlterations of Bacteroides, Neisseria, Actinomyces, and Streptococcus populations in the oropharyngeal microbiome were associated with liver cirrhosis and pneumonia.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12879-015-0977-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Disordered oropharyngeal microbial communities in H7N9 patients with or without secondary bacterial lung infection

“…This association between higher OP microbiome diversity and infection has also been demonstrated in previous studies. 11 The OP microbiome can be regarded as a reservoir of opportunistic pathogens, and any disturbance of the microbiome may predispose the host to airway infections. In the present study, taxa including Bacteriodaceae, Fusobacteriaceae, Leptotrichiaceae and Pseudomonadaceae were enriched in the OP microbiomes of the H7N9 and H7N9_SBLI groups compared with the HC group.…”

Microbiome diurnal rhythmicity and its impact on host physiology and disease risk

“…Through the portal vein that connects the liver to the gastrointestinal tract, the liver is exposed to the influence of the gut microbiome. Perturbations of the gut microbiome, coupled with disturbances in gut barrier function, have been associated with common liver disorders, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease [138][139][140], non-alcoholic steatohepatitis [139,[141][142][143][144][145][146][147][148][149][150][151][152], alcoholic liver disease [139,140,142,145,147,148,150,151,[153][154][155][156][157][158][159][160][161][162][163][164], and liver cirrhosis [165][166][167][168][169][170]. Thus, the microbiome serves as a modulator of liver rhythmic functions.…”

Respiratory microbiota and lower respiratory tract disease

“…34,51,58,63 Antibiotic administration seemed to have less effect on bacterial diversity than intubation, 58 and this effect was transitory, with recovery of a similar oropharyngeal microbiota a few days after antibiotic treatment compared to the microbiota before antibiotic administration. 52 However, most of the studies did not assess this effect, probably due to difficulties in assuming bacterial viability from DNA based measures. 70,71 In an early study assessing the effect of antibiotics in seven intubated adults colonized by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shannon's diversity index significantly fell from 1.48 to 0.59 after a few days of antibiotic treatment, with P. aeruginosa coming to dominate the microbiome in most patients despite susceptibility in vitro to the administered antibiotics.…”