Evaluation of the airway microbiome in nontuberculous mycobacteria disease

What is it about?

Non-tuberculosis mycobacterium (NTM) is increasing in incidence worldwide. However, acquiring this pathogen does not always lead to pulmonary disease and it is unclear what factors are related to the development of disease. In this study, oral and sputum samples were collected from 106 participants. Just over half the participants had NTM on sputum culture. Additionally, samples from the lower airways through bronchoscopy were collected from 20 participants. Samples were processed using a next generation sequencing. 16S rRNA gene sequencing was not a sensitive technique to detect Mycobacterium. Lower airway samples frequently revealed enrichment with bacteria commonly consider oral commensals. Importantly, enrichment of the lower airways with these oral commensals was associated with an increase in lower airway inflammation in participants with NTM disease. This suggests that aspiration of oral bacteria into the lung is associated with the lower airway inflammatory tone and may be a factor in the development of NTM disease.

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