The host response to the lung microbiome in Chromic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Rationale: The relatively sparse but diverse microbiome in human lungs may become less diverse in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This article examines the relationship of this microbiome to emphysematous tissue destruction, number of terminal bronchioles, infiltrating inflammatory cells, and host gene expression. Methods: Culture-independent pyrosequencing microbiome analysis was used to examine the V3–V5 regions of bacterial 16S ribosomal DNA in 40 samples of lung from 5 patients with COPD (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease [GOLD] stage 4) and 28 samples from 4 donors (controls). A second protocol based on the V1–V3 regions was used to verify the bacterial microbiome results. Within lung tissue samples the microbiome was compared with results of micro–computed tomography, infiltrating inflammatory cells measured by quantitative histology, and host gene expression. Measurements and Main Results: Ten operational taxonomic units (OTUs) was found suffi...