Abstract
Background: A distorted microbiome in the lower airways could be involved in the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), but is yet poorly characterized.
Aim: To study differences in the airway microbiome between IPF and COPD patients and healthy controls.
Methods: 12 IPF patients from the Bergen MicroILD study were compared with 12 COPD patients and 12 healthy controls chosen randomly among 233 subjects in the Bergen MicroCOPD study. We sequenced the V3V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene in oral wash (OW) samples, protected sterile brushes (PSB), and protected bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (PBAL). We chose QIIME2 as our bioinformatic pipeline.
Results: Figure 1 shows the 10 most common genera for each group. Among less common taxa, Klebsiella was only found in IPF patients, and Moraxella was only found in COPD patients. Mycoplasma was present in both IPF and COPD, but not in controls. Faiths phylogenetic alpha diversity was lower in IPF patients compared with both COPD patients and controls. Median (IQR) values in PSB were 10.5 (6.4-14-9), 19.5 (12.8-27.1) and 14.7 (11.2-32.3), and in PBAL 5.2 (4.5-8.4), 9.6 (6.0-26.8) and 11.5 (7.0-22-3), respectively. Likewise, beta-diversity (weighted & unweighted UniFrac) analyses showed a clustering in IPF distinct from both COPD and controls.
Conclusion: IPF patients demonstrate lower diversity in the lower airways microbiome compared to COPD patients and healthy controls.
Footnotes
Cite this article as: European Respiratory Journal 2019; 54: Suppl. 63, PA1326.
This is an ERS International Congress abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only).
- Copyright ©the authors 2019