Ma Huimin, Dong Zheng, Zhang Xu, Li Ning, Liu Conghe, Zhou Xi, He Jin, Ma Juan, Zhang Shuping, Kan Haidong, Liu Sijin
Medical Science and Technology Innovation Center, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, Shandong 250117, P. R. China.
School of Stomatology, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, Shandong 250117, P. R. China.
Environ Sci Technol. 2025 Jun 10;59(22):10826-10840. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.5c00798. Epub 2025 May 29.
Pneumoconiosis is a progressive and life-threatening fibrotic lung disorder caused by the prolonged deposition of inhaled particulate matters (PMs); thus far, no cure is available. Emerging evidence has suggested that the resulting disordered respiratory microbiome is caused by disturbed lung architecture and homeostasis responding to inhalable PMs. Lung microbiome dysbiosis also contributes to injury to the lung and distant organs, such as the intestine, through the lung-gut axis. Current studies on the microbiome-disease interplay are still in their infancy, and sufficient understanding of microbial heterogeneity in pathological processes is lacking. Here we investigated the microbiome in the lung and gut of patients with pneumoconiosis in comparison to healthy individuals. Our findings indicated reciprocal causation between lung injuries and microbial dysbiosis under particle exposure; pulmonary and , along with intestinal and , may represent key microbial communities influencing pneumoconiosis progression. We defined close microbiota crosstalk between the lung and gut, as evidenced by their interaction networks, implying considerable effects on the gut microenvironment through either direct microbial translocation or other mechanisms such as inflammation-driven alterations. Animal experiments further corroborated the findings in humans. Collectively, our results highlight the potential involvement of the lung-gut axis microbial dysbiosis in pneumoconiosis pathogenesis and open a new avenue to develop microbiome-targeted diagnosis and treatment strategies.
尘肺病是一种由吸入颗粒物（PMs）长期沉积引起的进行性且危及生命的纤维化肺部疾病；迄今为止，尚无治愈方法。新出现的证据表明，由此导致的呼吸道微生物群紊乱是由对可吸入PMs作出反应的肺结构和稳态紊乱引起的。肺部微生物群失调还通过肺-肠轴导致肺部和远处器官（如肠道）损伤。目前关于微生物群与疾病相互作用的研究仍处于起步阶段，对病理过程中微生物异质性的充分了解尚缺。在此，我们将尘肺病患者的肺部和肠道微生物群与健康个体进行了比较研究。我们的研究结果表明，在颗粒物暴露下，肺部损伤与微生物失调之间存在相互因果关系；肺部的[具体微生物群落1]和[具体微生物群落2]，以及肠道的[具体微生物群落3]和[具体微生物群落4]，可能是影响尘肺病进展的关键微生物群落。我们定义了肺部和肠道之间紧密的微生物群串扰，这由它们的相互作用网络所证明，意味着通过直接的微生物易位或其他机制（如炎症驱动的改变）对肠道微环境有相当大的影响。动物实验进一步证实了人类研究的结果。总的来说，我们的结果突出了肺-肠轴微生物失调在尘肺病发病机制中的潜在作用，并为开发以微生物群为靶点的诊断和治疗策略开辟了一条新途径。
