Sarkar Anujit, Groer Maureen, Ho Thao T B, Dishaw Larry J
College of Nursing, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, United States.
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, United States.
Front Pediatr. 2025 Sep 2;13:1651866. doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1651866. eCollection 2025.
Microsporidia are a group of single-celled fungi which infect various chordates including humans, where they mainly pose a risk to immunocompromised individuals. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of microsporidia in groups of very low birth weight (VLBW) and extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants, comparing the findings with a publicly available dataset of term infant samples.
Metagenomic sequencing was conducted on stool samples from two cohorts of preterm infants: cohort 1, which included 10 samples collected at 2, 4, and 8 weeks, and cohort 2, which consisted of 12 samples taken at 6 weeks and 2 years. These results were compared with data from a previously published cohort of term infants (cohort 3), which had 19 samples (in duplicates) collected between 1 and 14 weeks. Microsporidia identified from the data were separated and principal component analysis (PCA) was utilized to compare the microbiome of term and preterm infants. Microsporidia species that were significantly different between the two groups were identified using ALDEx2.
Early-stage microsporidia distribution did not show significant differences between the cohorts. However, significant differences emerged as the preterm infants grew, particularly at the age of 2 years (cohort 2). The levels of ( = 0.03) and ( = 0.04) were significantly higher in preterm infants compared to those born at term. Additionally, and , revealed an increase in cohort 2 from 6 weeks to 2 years.
This manuscript reports, to the best of our knowledge, the first occurrence of microsporidia in the early stages of human life. Some microsporidia not only persist into childhood but also become more prevalent during this time. However, we wish to emphasize that the findings from this study should be interpreted with caution, considering the low sample size and comparing cohorts examined at different time points of infants' age. Future studies with larger sample sizes and more mechanistic approaches could help clarify their role in childhood development and long-term health.
微孢子虫是一类单细胞真菌，可感染包括人类在内的各种脊索动物，主要对免疫功能低下的个体构成风险。本研究旨在调查极低出生体重（VLBW）和超低出生体重（ELBW）婴儿群体中微孢子虫的发生情况，并将结果与足月儿样本的公开数据集进行比较。
对两组早产儿的粪便样本进行宏基因组测序：队列1包括在2周、4周和8周收集的10个样本，队列2由在6周和2岁时采集的12个样本组成。将这些结果与先前发表的足月儿队列（队列3）的数据进行比较，该队列有19个样本（一式两份）在1至14周之间收集。从数据中鉴定出的微孢子虫进行分离，并利用主成分分析（PCA）比较足月儿和早产儿的微生物组。使用ALDEx2鉴定两组之间存在显著差异的微孢子虫种类。
早期微孢子虫分布在各队列之间未显示出显著差异。然而，随着早产儿的成长，差异逐渐显现，尤其是在2岁时（队列2）。与足月儿相比，早产儿中 （ = 0.03）和 （ = 0.04）的水平显著更高。此外， 和 显示队列2从6周龄到2岁有所增加。
据我们所知，本手稿首次报道了微孢子虫在人类生命早期的出现。一些微孢子虫不仅持续到儿童期，而且在此期间变得更加普遍。然而，我们要强调的是，考虑到样本量较小且比较的是婴儿不同年龄时间点检查的队列，本研究结果应谨慎解读。未来采用更大样本量和更具机制性方法的研究可能有助于阐明它们在儿童发育和长期健康中的作用。
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