Comparison of the human microbiome in adults and children with chronic rhinosinusitis

PLoS One. 2020 Dec 2;15(12):e0242770. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242770. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

We hypothesized that differences in the microbiome could be a cause of the substantial differences in the symptoms of and treatment options for adult and pediatric patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). First, we characterized the differences in the nasal microbiomes of pediatric and adult CRS patients. Swabs were obtained from 19 patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (9 children and 10 adults). The bacterial 16S rRNA gene was pyrosequenced to compare the microbiota of the middle meatus. No significant differences were found in species richness and alpha-diversity indices between the two groups. However, in the comparison of diversity between groups using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) clustering of microbiome taxonomic profiles, we observed a relatively clear separation between the adult and pediatric groups. Actinobacteria had a significantly higher relative abundance in the adult group than in the pediatric group at the phylum level. At the genus level, Corynebacterium showed significantly higher relative abundance in the adult group than in the pediatric group. This is a comparative study between the microbiomes of adult and pediatric CRS patients. We expect this study to be the first step in understanding the pathogenesis of CRS in adults and children using microbiome analysis.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Bacteria / metabolism
  • Biodiversity
  • Child
  • Chronic Disease
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Microbiota*
  • Rhinitis / microbiology*
  • Sinusitis / microbiology*

Grants and funding

The following institutions provided funding for the study in the form of grants: Korea University Guro Hospital “KOREA RESEARCH-DRIVEN HOSPITALS”, grant O1905541, awarded to IHP; Young Researcher Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), grant NRF-2018R1C1B6008596), awarded to SJH.