The Change of Cytokines and Gut Microbiome in Preterm Infants for Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia

Zhenjie Zhang; Jingjing Jiang; Zhenghong Li; Weilin Wan

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.804887

The Change of Cytokines and Gut Microbiome in Preterm Infants for Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia

Front Microbiol. 2022 Mar 21:13:804887. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.804887. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Zhenjie Zhang¹, Jingjing Jiang¹, Zhenghong Li², Weilin Wan¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
² Department of Pediatrics, State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Background: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a devastating form of chronic lung disease that develops in preterm infants. BPD is speculated to arise from abnormal inflammatory responses, which is related to the composition of commensal microbiota, leading us to hypothesize that BPD susceptibility could be influenced by gut microbiota through inflammatory responses. This study is aimed to detect cytokines and the differences in fecal gut microbial composition in the BPD patients.

Methods: Between June 2018 and June 2020, preterm infants born at gestational age ≤30 weeks were recruited. The clinical data of infant characteristics were collected. On days 3-7 and 14-28 after birth, fresh stool samples and serum were collected. The gut microbiota composition between the BPD group and controls was detected by 16S rRNA sequencing. On days 3-7 and days 14-28, ten cytokines including IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-13, IFN-γ, and TNF-α were detected in the serum.

Results: This study enrolled 38 preterm infants; the number of preterm infants in the BPD group and control group was, respectively, 18 and 20. The gestational age (27.4 ± 1.5 weeks vs. 29.5 ± 0.9 weeks, p = 0.000) and birth weight (971 ± 240 g vs. 1262 ± 335 g, p = 0.000) of the BPD group were lower than those of the control group. The present study found that the BPD group had high levels of IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α, whereas IL-10 was decreased. The Shannon diversity index of the BPD group was lower. The relative abundances of Proteobacteria in BPD group increased significantly from days 3-7 to days 14-28, while the Firmicutes was decreased. On days 14-28, the relative abundances of Proteobacteria in BPD group were significantly higher than those in the control group, while the Firmicutes was lower.

Conclusion: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia could be influenced by gut microbiota through inflammatory responses. More studies are needed to explore the imbalance of cytokines and microbiome in BPD infants and whether it could be reversed by probiotics. This study provided a novel perspective for treating BPD.

Keywords: bronchopulmonary dysplasia; cytokines; gut microbiome; inflammation; preterm infants.