Kaur Pritpal, Moon Loren, Srikumaran Divya, Salzberg Steven L, Lu Jennifer, Simner Patricia J, Soiberman Uri S
The Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
Center for Computational Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
J Clin Med. 2024 Jun 11;13(12):3399. doi: 10.3390/jcm13123399.
This study aims to assess the presence of pathogenic microorganisms in the corneal epithelial layer of keratoconus patients. DNA was extracted from corneal epithelial samples procured from ten individual keratoconus eyes and three healthy controls. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) was performed to detect ocular microbiota using an agnostic approach. Metagenomic sequencing revealed a low microbial read count in corneal epithelial samples derived from both keratoconus eyes (average: 530) and controls (average: 622) without a statistically significant difference ( = 0.29). Proteobacteria were the predominant phylum in both keratoconus and control samples (relative abundance: 72% versus 79%, respectively). The overall low microbial read count and the lack of difference in the relative abundance of different microbial species between keratoconus and control samples do not support the hypothesis that a chronic corneal infection is implicated in the pathogenesis of keratoconus. These findings do not rule out the possibility that an acute infection may be involved in the disease process as an initiating event.
本研究旨在评估圆锥角膜患者角膜上皮层中致病微生物的存在情况。从取自10只圆锥角膜患眼和3只健康对照者的角膜上皮样本中提取DNA。采用非特异性方法进行宏基因组下一代测序（mNGS）以检测眼部微生物群。宏基因组测序显示，来自圆锥角膜患眼（平均：530）和对照者（平均：622）的角膜上皮样本中的微生物读数较低，且无统计学显著差异（P = 0.29）。变形菌门是圆锥角膜和对照样本中的主要菌门（相对丰度分别为72%和79%）。圆锥角膜和对照样本中总体微生物读数较低，且不同微生物种类的相对丰度缺乏差异，这并不支持慢性角膜感染与圆锥角膜发病机制有关的假说。这些发现并不排除急性感染作为起始事件可能参与疾病过程的可能性。
