Data from: Sputum microbiota and inflammation at stable state and during exacerbations in a cohort of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients

Background: Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
are debilitating events and spur disease progression. Infectious causes
are frequent; however, it is unknown to what extent exacerbations are
caused by larger shifts in the airways’ microbiota. The aim of the current
study was to analyse the changes in microbial composition between stable
state and during exacerbations, and the corresponding immune response.
Methods: The study sample included 36 COPD patients examined at stable
state and exacerbation from the Bergen COPD Cohort and Exacerbations
studies, and one patient who delivered sputum on 13 different occasions
during the three-year study period. A physician examined the patients at
all time points, and sputum induction was performed by stringent protocol.
Only induced sputum samples were used in the current study, not
spontaneously expectorated sputum. Sputum inflammatory markers (IL-6,
IL-8, IL-18, IP-10, MIG, TNF-α) and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs, i.e.
LL-37/hCAP-18, SLPI) were measured in supernatants, whereas target gene
sequencing (16S rRNA) was performed on corresponding cell pellets. The
microbiome bioinformatics platform QIIME2TM and the statistics environment
R were applied for bioinformatics analyses. Results: Levels of IP-10, MIG,
TNF-α and AMPs were significantly different between the two disease
states. Of 36 sample pairs, 24 had significant differences in the 12 most
abundant genera between disease states. The diversity was significantly
different in several individuals, but not when data was analysed on a
group level. The one patient case study showed longitudinal dynamics in
microbiota unrelated to disease state. Conclusion: Changes in the sputum
microbiota with ch anging COPD disease states are common, and are
accompanied by changes in inflammatory markers. However, the changes are
highly individual and heterogeneous events.