Human microbiomes have received increasing attention over the last 10 years, leading to a pervasiveness of hypotheses relating dysbiosis to health and disease. The respiratory tract has received much less attention in this respect than that of, for example, the human gut. Nevertheless, progress has been made in elucidating the immunological, ecological and environmental drivers that govern these microbial consortia and the potential consequences of aberrant microbiomes. In this review, we consider the microbiome of the nasopharynx, a specific niche of the upper respiratory tract. The nasopharynx is an important site, anatomically with respect to its gateway position between upper and lower airways, and for pathogenic bacterial colonisation. The dynamics of the latter are important for long-term respiratory morbidity, acute infections of both invasive and non-invasive disease and associations with chronic airway disease exacerbations. Here, we review the development of the nasopharyngeal (NP) microbiome over the life course, examining it from the early establishment of resilient profiles in neonates through to perturbations associated with pneumonia risk in the elderly. We focus specifically on the commensal, opportunistically pathogenic members of the NP microbiome that includes Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis. In addition, we consider the role of relatively harmless genera such as Dolosigranulum and Corynebacterium. Understanding that the NP microbiome plays such a key, beneficial role in maintaining equilibrium of commensal species, prevention of pathogen outgrowth and host immunity enables future research to be directed appropriately.
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November 2017
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A representation of the intestinal microflora. There is growing interest in the role of the gut microbiome in human health and disease, and this issue of Emerging Topics in Life Sciences includes reviews that focus on microbiome–host interactions and host health (Basson and Wijeyesekera, pages 325–332), the role of the gut bacterium Bifidobacterium in modulating immune-linked diseases (O'Neill et al., pages 333–349) and the gut virome in humans (Ogilvie and Jones, pages 351–362).
Review Article|
November 30 2017
The nasopharyngeal microbiome Available to Purchase
David W. Cleary;
David W. Cleary
1Faculty of Medicine and Institute for Life Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, U.K.
2NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, University Hospital Southampton Foundation NHS Trust, Southampton SO16 6YD, U.K.
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Stuart C. Clarke
1Faculty of Medicine and Institute for Life Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, U.K.
2NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, University Hospital Southampton Foundation NHS Trust, Southampton SO16 6YD, U.K.
3Global Health Research Institute, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, U.K.
Correspondence: Stuart C. Clarke ([email protected])
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
July 27 2017
Revision Received:
October 19 2017
Accepted:
October 20 2017
Online ISSN: 2397-8562
Print ISSN: 2397-8554
© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and the Royal Society of Biology
2017
Emerg Top Life Sci (2017) 1 (4): 297–312.
Article history
Received:
July 27 2017
Revision Received:
October 19 2017
Accepted:
October 20 2017
Citation
Julian R. Marchesi, David W. Cleary, Stuart C. Clarke; The nasopharyngeal microbiome. Emerg Top Life Sci 30 November 2017; 1 (4): 297–312. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/ETLS20170041
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