According to a multicentre study led by researchers at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, the lower airways of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) have unique biochemical characteristics that characterize the complex communities of lung bacteria typical of the disease. are related to. These findings provide insight into the underlying biological mechanisms driving infection and inflammation in CF lungs, and may help develop novel targeted therapies and more accurate diagnoses to improve care for children with CF. The results were published in the journal Frontiers of Cellular and Infection Microbiology,
Chronic airway infection and inflammation resulting in progressive, obstructive pulmonary disease are the leading causes of illness and death in people with CF. To better understand the biological mechanisms of infection and inflammation, a study by Lurie Children, in collaboration with researchers at Children’s Hospital of Colorado and the University of Minnesota, measured several metabolites in 90 bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples obtained from bronchoscopy. . These lower airway samples were collected from children with and without CF. The researchers also used genetic sequencing to characterize the bacterial communities present in these samples, which were then related to metabolites in the lungs.
“Our study was the first to examine these metabolites in lower airway samples and to identify a network of relationships between metabolites and lower airway bacterial communities,” said lead author Jack O’Connor from Lurie Children’s. “We discovered metabolite biomarkers that may be related to biochemical processes associated with increased inflammation and bacterial burden in CF lungs. These features unique to CF lung biology may ultimately aid in the development of new treatments and diagnostics.”
Two metabolic features – an increase in amino acids and a decrease in acylcarnitines – were found to be unique to CF and could potentially serve as biomarkers of inflammation and infection. Additionally, a metabolite of interest, L-methionine-S-oxide, was positively corrected with an abundance of Staphylococcus, a traditional CF pathogen, and negatively correlated with the abundance of anaerobic bacteria of interest in the development of chronic CF lung disease. The study provides some interesting clues about what is happening biologically in the CF airways.
“Our findings are in a very early stage of research and are not yet ready for clinical applications,” said senior author Theresa Laguna, MD, MSCS, division head of Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine at Lurie Children’s and Northwestern University Feinberg. Associate Professor of Pediatrics said. Pharmaceutical School. “Our results lay important groundwork for future studies that will eventually advance clinical care for children with CF.”
Research is conducted through the Stanley Mane Children’s Research Institute at Chicago’s Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital. Manne Research Institute is focused on improving child health, transforming pediatric medicine and ensuring a healthier future through the relentless pursuit of knowledge. Lurie Children’s is ranked as one of the top children’s hospitals in the country US News and World Report. It is the pediatric training ground for the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
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