RESUMEN
PURPOSE: We compared the microbial communities of the eye, anterior nares (ANs) and oropharynx (OP) of healthy adults to provide a basic understanding of the microbial associations among the three sites. METHODS: The name of the registry of our prospective study was "Study on the diversity of microbial flora in the eye, nose and oropharynx of healthy people". The trial number is ChiCTR2300067724 (https://www.chictr.org.cn/index.aspx). Swabs were collected from the eye, ANs and OP of 48 healthy adult participants for 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. The bacterial community profiles and their functional associations were compared among the three sites. RESULTS: At a phylum level, the basic bacterial compositions in the eye and ANs were generally similar, and the predominant phyla were Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. In contrast, the OP microbiota was characterized by an increased abundance of Bacteroidetes. At a genus level, Corynebacterium, Cutibacterium and Staphylococcus were the most abundant in the eye and ANs. Prevotella-7, Alloprevatella, Haemophilus and Streptococcus were more abundant in the OP. Correlation analysis of the eye and ANs microbiota suggested that Cutibacterium and Micrococcus may migrate from the eye to nose (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The bacterial flora composition and function predictions of eye and ANs were similar, but differed from those of the OP in healthy adults. The OP bacterial flora distribution was markedly different, showing characteristics similar to that of the digestive tract flora. Thus, the eye and ANs microorganisms may be related in healthy individuals. Cutibacterium and Micrococcus may migrate from the eye to the nose.
RESUMEN
Natural killer/T cell lymphoma (NKTCL) most frequently affects the nasal cavity and upper aerodigestive tract (UAT) and is often mistaken for reactive disease processes, such as chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). Recently, alterations of the nasal resident microbiota have been found in CRS. However, nasal microbial features in NKTCL have never been reported. This case-control study collected 46 NKTCL patients, 25 CRS patients and 24 matched healthy controls (HCs) to analyze nasal microbial profiles via 16S rRNA sequencing technology to improve our understanding of changes in the nasal microbiota in NKTCL. We found that alpha diversity was significantly decreased, while beta diversity was significantly increased in NKTCL compared with those in CRS and HCs. The genus Corynebacterium was significantly depleted in CRS and NKTCL versus that in HCs, while genus Staphylococcus was the most abundant in the NKTCL compared to that in the other two groups. The nasal microbial community was significantly different between UAT-NKTCL and non-UAT NKTCL patients. Importantly, based on a panel of taxa, excellent classification power with an AUC of 0.875 between UAT-NKTCL and CRS was achieved. Furthermore, the alpha diversity of the nasal microbiota was associated with several clinical covariates of NKTCL. Finally, PICRUSt analysis implicated an array of distinct functions in NKTCL that might be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. In conclusion, the nasal microbial profile was unique in NKTCL. The nose-microbiota-UAT NKTCL axis represents a panel of promising biomarkers for clinical practice and contributes to revealing the potential pathogenesis of this malignancy.