About this item:

278 Views | 196 Downloads

Author Notes:

Kohei Hasegawa, MD, MPH, Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, 125 Nashua Street, Suite 920, Boston, MA 02114, USA. Email: E-mail address:khasegawa1@partners.org

KH carried out the statistical analysis, drafted the initial manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

RWL conceptualized and designed the study, enrolled the subjects, drafted the initial manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

JMM and CAC conceptualized and designed the study, obtained the funding, reviewed and revised the manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

NJA and JFP generated the microbiome data, carried out the initial statistical analysis, reviewed and revised the manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

RGF was involved in the patient enrollment, critically reviewed and revised the manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

JAE carried out the initial analyses, reviewed and revised the manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

The authors thank Pedro A. Piedra, MD (Baylor College of Medicine), Ashley F. Sullivan, MS, MPH (Massachusetts General Hospital), the staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital Pediatric Group Practice, and all of the study families for their contributions to the study.

The content of this manuscript is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Drs. Ajami and Petrosino own shares of Diversigen Inc., a microbiome research company.

The other authors have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.

Subjects:

Research Funding:

This study was supported by the grants U01 AI-087881, R01 AI-114552, R01 AI-108588, and R21 HL-129909 from the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD).

Keywords:

  • Science & Technology
  • Life Sciences & Biomedicine
  • Pediatrics
  • airway microbiota
  • asthma
  • fecal microbiota
  • infant
  • sibling
  • GUT MICROBIOTA
  • INTESTINAL MICROBIOTA
  • EARLY-CHILDHOOD
  • ASTHMA
  • PATTERNS
  • DISEASE
  • HYGIENE
  • COHORTS
  • NUMBER
  • ECZEMA

Association of household siblings with nasal and fecal microbiota in infants

Tools:

Journal Title:

Pediatrics International

Volume:

Volume 59, Number 4

Publisher:

, Pages 473-481

Type of Work:

Article | Post-print: After Peer Review

Abstract:

Background: Early-life exposure to older siblings is associated with a lower risk of asthma. To date, no study has addressed the impact of having siblings on both the airway and fecal microbiota during infancy. The aim of this study was therefore to profile the nasal airway and fecal microbiota in infants, and to examine the association between having siblings and microbiota profile. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 105 healthy infants (aged < 1 year). Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and an unbiased clustering approach to the nasal airway and fecal samples, we identified microbiota profiles and then determined the association between having siblings and microbiome profile. Results: Overall, the median age was 3.4 months (IQR, 2.0–4.7 months); 43% had siblings in the household. Unbiased clustering of nasal airway microbiota identified three profiles: Moraxella dominant (43%), Corynebacterium/Dolosigranulum dominant (36%), and mixed (21%). Infants with siblings were more likely to have a Moraxella-dominant profile than Corynebacterium/Dolosigranulum-dominant profile (76% vs 18%), while those without siblings had the opposite pattern (18% vs 50%; P < 0.001, multivariable-adjusted). Fecal microbiota consisted of three profiles: Bifidobacterium dominant (39%), Escherichia dominant (31%), and Enterobacter dominant (30%). Infants with siblings were more likely to have a Bifidobacterium-dominant profile than Escherichia-dominant profile (49% vs 24%) while those without siblings had the opposite pattern (32% vs 37%; P = 0.04, multivariable-adjusted). Conclusions: In this cross-sectional study, infants with siblings were more likely to have a Moraxella-dominant nasal microbiota profile and Bifidobacterium-dominant fecal microbiota profile. These findings should facilitate further investigation of the interplay between early-life environmental exposure, the microbiome, and childhood asthma.

Copyright information:

© 2016 Japan Pediatric Society

Export to EndNote