Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2011 Jan 6;6(1):e15700. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015700.
Cigarette smokers and those exposed to second hand smoke are more susceptible to life threatening infection than non-smokers. While much is known about the devastating effect tobacco exposure has on the human body, less is known about the effect of tobacco smoke on the commensal and commonly found pathogenic bacteria of the human respiratory tract, or human respiratory tract microbiome. Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a common medical complaint, affecting 16% of the US population with an estimated aggregated cost of $6 billion annually. Epidemiologic studies demonstrate a correlation between tobacco smoke exposure and rhinosinusitis. Although a common cause of CRS has not been defined, bacterial presence within the nasal and paranasal sinuses is assumed to be contributory. Here we demonstrate that repetitive tobacco smoke exposure induces biofilm formation in a diverse set of bacteria isolated from the sinonasal cavities of patients with CRS. Additionally, bacteria isolated from patients with tobacco smoke exposure demonstrate robust in vitro biofilm formation when challenged with tobacco smoke compared to those isolated from smoke naïve patients. Lastly, bacteria from smoke exposed patients can revert to a non-biofilm phenotype when grown in the absence of tobacco smoke. These observations support the hypothesis that tobacco exposure induces sinonasal biofilm formation, thereby contributing to the conversion of a transient and medically treatable infection to a persistent and therapeutically recalcitrant condition.
吸烟者和二手烟暴露者比不吸烟者更容易受到危及生命的感染。虽然人们已经了解到烟草暴露对人体的破坏性影响，但对于烟草烟雾对人体呼吸道共生菌和常见致病菌（即人类呼吸道微生物组）的影响却知之甚少。慢性鼻-鼻窦炎（CRS）是一种常见的医学主诉，影响了美国 16%的人群，估计每年的总花费为 60 亿美元。流行病学研究表明，烟草烟雾暴露与鼻-鼻窦炎之间存在相关性。虽然尚未明确 CRS 的常见病因，但假设鼻腔和鼻旁窦内的细菌存在是其促成因素。在这里，我们证明了从 CRS 患者的鼻腔和鼻窦中分离出的多种细菌经反复烟草烟雾暴露后会形成生物膜。此外，与从无吸烟史的患者中分离出的细菌相比，暴露于烟草烟雾的患者中分离出的细菌在受到烟草烟雾挑战时表现出更强的体外生物膜形成能力。最后，来自暴露于烟雾的患者的细菌在没有烟草烟雾的情况下生长时可以恢复为非生物膜表型。这些观察结果支持了这样一种假设，即烟草暴露会诱导鼻-鼻窦生物膜形成，从而导致原本是短暂的、可治疗的感染转变为持续的、治疗抵抗的疾病。
