Project description:BackgroundThe contribution of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) microbiota and mycobiota to silicosis has recently been noticed. However, many confounding factors can influence the accuracy of BALF microbiota and mycobiota studies, resulting in inconsistencies in the published results. In this cross-sectional study, we systematically investigated the effects of "sampling in different rounds of BALF" on its microbiota and mycobiota. We further explored the relationship between silicosis fatigue and the microbiota and mycobiota.MethodsAfter obtaining approval from the ethics board, we collected 100 BALF samples from 10 patients with silicosis. Demographic data, clinical information, and blood test results were also collected from each patient. The characteristics of the microbiota and mycobiota were defined using next-generation sequencing. However, no non-silicosis referent group was examined, which was a major limitation of this study.ResultsOur analysis indicated that subsampling from different rounds of BALF did not affect the alpha- and beta-diversities of microbial and fungal communities when the centrifuged BALF sediment was sufficient for DNA extraction. In contrast, fatigue status significantly influenced the beta-diversity of microbes and fungi (Principal Coordinates Analysis, P = 0.001; P = 0.002). The abundance of Vibrio alone could distinguish silicosis patients with fatigue from those without fatigue (area under the curve = 0.938, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.870-1.000). Significant correlations were found between Vibrio and haemoglobin levels (P < 0.001, ρ = -0.64).ConclusionsSampling in different rounds of BALF showed minimal effect on BALF microbial and fungal diversities; the first round of BALF collection was recommended for microbial and fungal analyses for convenience. In addition, Vibrio may be a potential biomarker for silicosis fatigue screening.
Project description:Asthma is characterized by increased airway narrowing in response to nonspecific stimuli. The disorder is influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. Exosomes are nanosized vesicles of endosomal origin released from inflammatory and epithelial cells that have been implicated in asthma. In this study we characterized the microRNA (miRNA) content of exosomes in healthy control subjects and patients with mild intermittent asthma both at unprovoked baseline and in response to environmental challenge.To investigate alterations in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) exosomal miRNA profiles due to asthma, and following subway air exposure.Exosomes were isolated from BALF from healthy control subjects (n = 10) and patients with mild intermittent asthma (n = 10) after subway and control exposures. Exosomal RNA was analyzed by using microarrays containing probes for 894 human miRNAs, and selected findings were validated with quantitative RT-PCR. Results were analyzed by using multivariate modeling.The presence of miRNAs was confirmed in exosomes from BALF of both asthmatic patients and healthy control subjects. Significant differences in BALF exosomal miRNA was detected for 24 miRNAs with a subset of 16 miRNAs, including members of the let-7 and miRNA-200 families, providing robust classification of patients with mild nonsymptomatic asthma from healthy subjects with 72% cross-validated predictive power (Q(2) = 0.72). In contrast, subway exposure did not cause any significant alterations in miRNA profiles.These studies demonstrate substantial differences in exosomal miRNA profiles between healthy subjects and patients with unprovoked, mild, stable asthma. These changes might be important in the inflammatory response leading to bronchial hyperresponsiveness and asthma.
Project description:BackgroundIt is now possible to comprehensively characterize the microbiota of the lungs using culture-independent, sequencing-based assays. Several sample types have been used to investigate the lung microbiota, each presenting specific challenges for preparation and analysis of microbial communities. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) enables the identification of microbiota specific to the lower lung but commonly has low bacterial density, increasing the risk of false-positive signal from contaminating DNA. The objectives of this study were to investigate the extent of contamination across a range of sample densities representative of BALF and identify features of contaminants that facilitate their removal from sequence data and aid in the interpretation of BALF sample 16S sequencing data.ResultsUsing three mock communities across a range of densities ranging from 8E+?02 to 8E+?09 16S copies/ml, we assessed taxonomic accuracy and precision by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and the proportion of reads arising from contaminants. Sequencing accuracy, precision, and the relative abundance of mock community members decreased with sample input density, with a significant drop-off below 8E+?05 16S copies/ml. Contaminant OTUs were commonly inversely correlated with sample input density or not reproduced between technical replicates. Removal of taxa with these features or physical concentration of samples prior to sequencing improved both sequencing accuracy and precision for samples between 8E+?04 and 8E+?06 16S copies/ml. For the lowest densities, below 8E+?03 16S copies/ml BALF, accuracy and precision could not be significantly improved using these approaches. Using clinical BALF samples across a large density range, we observed that OTUs with features of contaminants identified in mock communities were also evident in low-density BALF samples.ConclusionRelative abundance data and community composition generated by 16S sequencing of BALF samples across the range of density commonly observed in this sample type should be interpreted in the context of input sample density and may be improved by simple pre- and post-sequencing steps for densities above 8E+?04 16S copies/ml.
Project description:To better understand the potential relationship between COVID-19 disease and hologenome microbial community dynamics and functional profiles, we conducted a multivariate taxonomic and functional microbiome comparison of publicly available human bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) metatranscriptome samples amongst COVID-19 (n = 32), community acquired pneumonia (CAP) (n = 25), and uninfected samples (n = 29). We then performed a stratified analysis based on mortality amongst the COVID-19 cohort with known outcomes of deceased (n = 10) versus survived (n = 15). Our overarching hypothesis was that there are detectable and functionally significant relationships between BALF microbial metatranscriptomes and the severity of COVID-19 disease onset and progression. We observed 34 functionally discriminant gene ontology (GO) terms in COVID-19 disease compared to the CAP and uninfected cohorts, and 21 GO terms functionally discriminant to COVID-19 mortality (q < 0.05). GO terms enriched in the COVID-19 disease cohort included hydrolase activity, and significant GO terms under the parental terms of biological regulation, viral process, and interspecies interaction between organisms. Notable GO terms associated with COVID-19 mortality included nucleobase-containing compound biosynthetic process, organonitrogen compound catabolic process, pyrimidine-containing compound biosynthetic process, and DNA recombination, RNA binding, magnesium and zinc ion binding, oxidoreductase activity, and endopeptidase activity. A Dirichlet multinomial mixtures clustering analysis resulted in a best model fit using three distinct clusters that were significantly associated with COVID-19 disease and mortality. We additionally observed discriminant taxonomic differences associated with COVID-19 disease and mortality in the genus Sphingomonas, belonging to the Sphingomonadacae family, Variovorax, belonging to the Comamonadaceae family, and in the class Bacteroidia, belonging to the order Bacteroidales. To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate significant differences in taxonomic and functional signatures between BALF metatranscriptomes from COVID-19, CAP, and uninfected cohorts, as well as associating these taxa and microbial gene functions with COVID-19 mortality. Collectively, while this data does not speak to causality nor directionality of the association, it does demonstrate a significant relationship between the human microbiome and COVID-19. The results from this study have rendered testable hypotheses that warrant further investigation to better understand the causality and directionality of host-microbiome-pathogen interactions.
Project description:The United States experienced an outbreak of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) that began in August 2019. Patient diagnosis and treatment sometimes involved bronchoscopy and collection of the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid. Although this matrix has been useful for understanding some chemical exposures in the lungs, no methods existed for measuring the nicotine content. Therefore, we developed a simple and sensitive method for measuring nicotine in the BAL fluid. Nicotine was extracted from the BAL fluid using acetone precipitation in a 96-well plate format to increase the sample throughput (200 samples/day). We optimized liquid chromatography column conditions (e.g., mobile phase, column temperature) and mass spectrometry parameters to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and lower limits of detection (LOD) for measuring nicotine in the BAL fluid. The LOD for nicotine in the BAL fluid was 0.050 ng/mL at a sample volume of 40 μL of the BAL fluid. The within-day and between-day imprecision and bias were less than 10%. This method detected nicotine in 15 of 43 BAL fluids from EVALI case patients. This method is useful for understanding recent inhalational exposure to nicotine as part of characterizing EVALI or similar illnesses.
Project description:The long-term goal of our study is to identify chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)-related bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) nitroproteins to clarify COPD pathological mechanisms and to discover biomarkers of COPD. The goal of the present study was to detect the presence of, and potential roles of, nitroproteins in, human ex-smoker (without COPD) BALF samples. Nitroproteins were immunoprecipitated from two separate BALF samples, and digested with trypsin; and tryptic peptides were analyzed with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Each MS/MS spectrum was composed of accumulated scans (n = 50-100). The MS/MS data were searched with BioWorks 2.0 TuboSequest in the SwissProt database to generate the amino acid sequence, which was evaluated manually. Eleven nitrotyrosine sites were identified in eight proteins, including progestin and adipoQ receptor family member III, zinc finger protein 432, proteasome subunit alpha type 2, NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase B14, slit homolog 1 protein, lysozyme, aldose 1-epimerase, and PTS system lactose-specific EIICB component. Each nitrotyrosine site was located within a specific protein domain and motif. Those identified nitrated proteins could be involved in multiple functional metabolic systems, including transcriptional regulation, mitochondrial complex, immune system, and energy metabolism.
Project description:Global-scale examination of protein phosphorylation in human biological fluids by phosphoproteomics approaches is an emerging area of research with potential for significant contributions towards discovery of novel biomarkers. In this pilot work, we analyzed the phosphoproteome in human bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) from nondiseased subjects. The main objectives were to assess the feasibility to probe phosphorylated proteins in human BAL and to obtain the initial catalog of BAL phosphoproteins, including protein identities and exact description of their phosphorylation sites. We used a gel-free bioanalytical workflow that included whole-proteome digestion of depleted BAL proteins, enrichment of phosphopeptides by immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography (IMAC), LC-MS/MS analyses with a linear ion trap mass spectrometer, and searches of a protein sequence database to generate a panel of BAL phosphoproteins and their sites of phosphorylation. Based on sequence-diagnostic MS/MS fragmentation patterns, we identified a collection of 36 phosphopeptides that contained 26 different phosphorylation sites. These phosphopeptides mapped to 21 phosphoproteins including, for example, vimentin, plastin-2, ferritin heavy chain, kininogen-1, and others. The characterized phosphoproteins have diverse characteristics in terms of cellular origin and biological function. To the best of our knowledge, results of this study represent the first description of the human BAL phosphoproteome.
Project description:Severe COVID-19 pneumonia has been associated with the development of intense inflammatory responses during the course of infections with SARS-CoV-2. Given that human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are known to be activated during and participate in inflammatory processes, we examined whether HERV dysregulation signatures are present in COVID-19 patients. By comparing transcriptomes of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of COVID-19 patients and healthy controls, and peripheral blood monocytes (PBMCs) from patients and controls, we have shown that HERVs are intensely dysregulated in BALF of COVID-19 patients compared to those in BALF of healthy control patients but not in PBMCs. In particular, upregulation in the expression of specific HERV families was detected in BALF samples of COVID-19 patients, with HERV-FRD being the most highly upregulated family among the families analyzed. In addition, we compared the expression of HERVs in human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs) without and after senescence induction in an oncogene-induced senescence model in order to quantitatively measure changes in the expression of HERVs in bronchial cells during the process of cellular senescence. This apparent difference of HERV dysregulation between PBMCs and BALF warrants further studies in the involvement of HERVs in inflammatory pathogenetic mechanisms as well as exploration of HERVs as potential biomarkers for disease progression. Furthermore, the increase in the expression of HERVs in senescent HBECs in comparison to that in noninduced HBECs provides a potential link for increased COVID-19 severity and mortality in aged populations. IMPORTANCE SARS-CoV-2 emerged in late 2019 in China, causing a global pandemic. Severe COVID-19 is characterized by intensive inflammatory responses, and older age is an important risk factor for unfavorable outcomes. HERVs are remnants of ancient infections whose expression is upregulated in multiple conditions, including cancer and inflammation, and their expression is increased with increasing age. The significance of this work is that we were able to recognize dysregulated expression of endogenous retroviral elements in BALF samples but not in PBMCs of COVID-19 patients. At the same time, we were able to identify upregulated expression of multiple HERV families in senescence-induced HBECs in comparison to that in noninduced HBECs, a fact that could possibly explain the differences in disease severity among age groups. These results indicate that HERV expression might play a pathophysiological role in local inflammatory pathways in lungs afflicted by SARS-CoV-2 and their expression could be a potential therapeutic target.