Nasal Bacteriomes of Patients with Asthma and Allergic Rhinitis Show Unique Composition, Structure, Function and Interactions

• Published in: Microorganisms (Basel) 2023-03, Vol.11 (3), p.683
• Main Authors: Pérez-Losada, Marcos, Castro-Nallar, Eduardo, Laerte Boechat, José, Delgado, Luis, Azenha Rama, Tiago, Berrios-Farías, Valentín, Oliveira, Manuela
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 16S rRNA; Allergic rhinitis; allergy; Asthma; bacteriome; Biomarkers; Biosynthesis; Chronic illnesses; Comorbidity; Complications and side effects; Composition; Development and progression; Diagnosis; Disease control; Diversity indices; Dysbacteriosis; Dysbiosis; Genera; Hay fever; Health aspects; Inflammation; Metabolic pathways; Metadata; Microbiota; Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms); Microorganisms; nasal microbiome; Nasal mucosa; Network analysis; Next-generation sequencing; Patients; Phylogenetics; Public health; Respiratory diseases; Rhinitis; rRNA 16S; Structure-function relationships; Taxonomy
• ISSN: 2076-2607; 2076-2607
• DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11030683

Allergic rhinitis and asthma are major public health concerns and economic burdens worldwide. However, little is known about nasal bacteriome dysbiosis during allergic rhinitis, alone or associated with asthma comorbidity. To address this knowledge gap we applied 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing to 347 nasal samples from participants with asthma (AS = 12), allergic rhinitis (AR = 53), allergic rhinitis with asthma (ARAS = 183) and healthy controls (CT = 99). One to three of the most abundant phyla, and five to seven of the dominant genera differed significantly ( < 0.021) between AS, AR or ARAS and CT groups. All alpha-diversity indices of microbial richness and evenness changed significantly ( < 0.01) between AR or ARAS and CT, while all beta-diversity indices of microbial structure differed significantly ( < 0.011) between each of the respiratory disease groups and controls. Bacteriomes of rhinitic and healthy participants showed 72 differentially expressed ( < 0.05) metabolic pathways each related mainly to degradation and biosynthesis processes. A network analysis of the AR and ARAS bacteriomes depicted more complex webs of interactions among their members than among those of healthy controls. This study demonstrates that the nose harbors distinct bacteriotas during health and respiratory disease and identifies potential taxonomic and functional biomarkers for diagnostics and therapeutics in asthma and rhinitis.