Department of Internal Medicine, Kangwon National University Hospital, Kangwon National University School of Medicine, Chuncheon, Republic of Korea.
Department of Life Science, Multidisciplinary Genome Institute, Hallym University, 1 Hallymdaehak-gil, Chuncheon, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea.
Sci Rep. 2020 Oct 1;10(1):16206. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-73035-x.
Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) involves repeated events of gross haematuria with concurrent upper airway infections. The mucosal immune system, especially the tonsil, is considered the initial site of inflammation, although the role of the tonsillar microbiota has not been established in IgAN. In this study, we compared the tonsillar microbiota of patients with IgAN (n = 21) and other glomerular diseases (n = 36) as well as, healthy controls (n = 23) from three medical centres in Korea. The microbiota was analysed from tonsil swabs using the Illumina MiSeq system based on 16S rRNA gene. Tonsillar bacterial diversity was higher in IgAN than in other glomerular diseases, although it did not differ from that of healthy controls. Principal coordinates analysis revealed differences between the tonsillar microbiota of IgAN and both healthy and disease controls. The proportions of Rahnella, Ruminococcus_g2, and Clostridium_g21 were significantly higher in patients with IgAN than in healthy controls (corrected p < 0.05). The relative abundances of several taxa were correlated with the estimated glomerular filtration rate, blood urea nitrogen, haemoglobin, and serum albumin levels. Based on our findings, tonsillar microbiota may be associated with clinical features and possible immunologic pathogenesis of IgAN.
免疫球蛋白 A 肾病（IgAN）涉及反复发作的肉眼血尿，并伴有上呼吸道感染。黏膜免疫系统，尤其是扁桃体，被认为是炎症的初始部位，尽管 IgAN 中扁桃体微生物群的作用尚未确定。在这项研究中，我们比较了来自韩国三个医学中心的 21 例 IgAN 患者（n=21）、36 例其他肾小球疾病患者（n=36）和 23 名健康对照者（n=23）的扁桃体微生物群。使用 Illumina MiSeq 系统基于 16S rRNA 基因从扁桃体拭子中分析微生物群。IgAN 患者的扁桃体细菌多样性高于其他肾小球疾病患者，但与健康对照组无差异。主坐标分析显示 IgAN 与健康和疾病对照组的扁桃体微生物群之间存在差异。与健康对照组相比，IgAN 患者的 Rahnella、Ruminococcus_g2 和 Clostridium_g21 的比例明显更高（校正后 p<0.05）。一些分类群的相对丰度与估计的肾小球滤过率、血尿素氮、血红蛋白和血清白蛋白水平相关。基于我们的发现，扁桃体微生物群可能与 IgAN 的临床特征和可能的免疫发病机制有关。
