A metagenome-wide association study of gut microbiota in asthma in UK adults

• Published in: BMC microbiology Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 114 - 7
• Main Authors: Wang, Qi, Li, Fei, Liang, Bishan, Liang, Yuhu, Chen, Sijie, Mo, Xiaodong, Ju, Yanmei, Zhao, Hui, Jia, Huijue, Spector, Timothy D., Xie, Hailiang, Guo, Ruijin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 12.09.2018; BioMed Central Ltd; BMC
• Subjects: Adaptive immunity; Adult; Adults; Asthma; Asthma - microbiology; Bacteria - classification; Bacteria - genetics; Bacteria - isolation & purification; Bacteria - metabolism; Biological Microscopy; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell activation; Development and progression; Digestive system; Disease; Eggerthella lenta; Faecalibacterium prausnitzii; Fatty acid metabolism; Fatty acids; Fatty Acids, Volatile - metabolism; Fecal microflora; Feces - microbiology; Female; Functional analysis; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Genes; Genomes; Health aspects; Humans; Immunity; Intestinal microflora; Intestines - microbiology; Life Sciences; Lifestyles; Lymphocytes T; Male; Metabolism; Metagenome; Microbe-host interactions and microbial pathogenicity; Microbiology; Microbiomes; Microbiota; Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms); Microorganisms; Multivariate analysis; MWAS; Mycology; Parasitology; Patients; Research Article; SCFAs; United Kingdom; Virology; United Kingdom; United Kingdom > UK; MWAS; SCFAs; Asthma; Faecalibacterium prausnitzii; Eggerthella lenta
• ISSN: 1471-2180; 1471-2180
• DOI: 10.1186/s12866-018-1257-x

Background Asthma, one of the most common chronic respiratory disorders, is associated with the hyper-activation of the T-cell subset of adaptive immunity. The gut microbiota may be involved in the development of asthma through the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), exhibiting modulatory effects on Th. So, we performed a metagenome-wide association study (MWAS) of the fecal microbiota from individuals with asthma and healthy controls. And that was the first case to resolve the relationship between asthma and microbiome among UK adults. Results The microbiota of the individuals with asthma consisted of fewer microbial entities than the microbiota of healthy individuals. Faecalibacterium prausnitzii , Sutterella wadsworthensis and Bacteroides stercoris were depleted in cases, whereas Clostridiums with Eggerthella lenta were over-represented in individuals with asthma. Functional analysis shows that the SCFAs might be altered in the microbiota of asthma patients. Conclusion In all, the adult human gut microbiome of asthma patients is clearly different from healthy controls. The functional and taxa results showed that the change of asthma patients might related to SCFAs.