| Title: |
Airway microbiota in young people across four continents differ by country, asthma status and inflammatory phenotype. |
| Authors: |
Taylor, Steven L; Brooks, Collin R; Pembrey, Lucy; Manning, Sarah K; Elms, Levi; Mpairwe, Harriet; Figueiredo, Camila A; Oviedo, Aida Y; Chico, Martha; Burmanje, Jeroen; Ali, Hajar; Nambuya, Irene; Tumwesige, Pius; Robertson, Steven; Rutter, Charlotte E; van Veldhoven, Karin; Ring, Susan M; Barreto, Mauricio L; Cooper, Philip J; Cruz, Álvaro A; Pearce, Neil; Rogers, Geraint B; Douwes, Jeroen; WASP Study Group |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Collection: |
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine: LSHTM Research Online |
| Description: |
BACKGROUND: Asthma is an umbrella diagnosis encompassing distinct pathophysiological mechanisms. While a global problem, our understanding of the interplay between respiratory microbiology and airway inflammation is largely from populations in high-income settings. As a result, treatment approaches align poorly with asthma characteristics in less studied populations. OBJECTIVE: To identify conserved and geographically distinct relationships between airway inflammation and microbiota characteristics in young people with and without asthma. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study performing inflammatory phenotyping, microbiota analysis and enumeration of total bacteria, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis on 488 induced sputum samples from participants from Brazil (asthma: 68; non-asthma: 8), Ecuador (asthma: 89; non-asthma: 30), Uganda (asthma: 61; non-asthma: 8), New Zealand (asthma: 129; non-asthma: 58) and the UK (asthma: 25; non-asthma: 20). Microbiota characteristics were compared by country, asthma status and inflammatory characteristics, adjusting for age and sex. RESULTS: Asthma inflammatory phenotypes and microbiology differed between countries, with Uganda characterised by higher neutrophils, microbial diversity and bacterial abundance. Comparison of airway inflammation with microbiota characteristics showed conserved relationships across centres, with airway neutrophil proportion explaining variance in microbiota Bray-Curtis dissimilarity (p |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
text |
| Language: |
English |
| ISSN: |
0040-6376 |
| Relation: |
https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/4679663/1/Taylor-etal-2026-Airway-microbiota-in-young-people-across-four-continents.pdf; Taylor, Steven LORCID logo; Brooks, Collin R; Pembrey, Lucy ORCID logo; Manning, Sarah K; Elms, Levi; Mpairwe, Harriet; Figueiredo, Camila A; Oviedo, Aida Y; Chico, Martha; Burmanje, Jeroen; +14 more.Ali, Hajar; Nambuya, Irene; Tumwesige, Pius; Robertson, Steven ORCID logo; Rutter, Charlotte E ORCID logo; van Veldhoven, Karin; Ring, Susan M; Barreto, Mauricio L; Cooper, Philip JORCID logo; Cruz, Álvaro A; Pearce, Neil ORCID logo; Rogers, Geraint B; Douwes, Jeroen; and WASP Study Group (2026) Airway microbiota in young people across four continents differ by country, asthma status and inflammatory phenotype. Thorax. thorax-2025-222965-. ISSN 0040-6376 DOI:10.1136/thorax-2025-222965 |
| Availability: |
https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/4679663/ |
| Rights: |
cc_by_4 |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.FF1B76B0 |
| Database: |
BASE |