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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Clinical Microbiology
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1492881

Diagnosis and insight into the unique lung microbiota of pediatric pulmonary tuberculosis patients by bronchoalveolar lavage using metagenomic next-generation sequencing

Provisionally accepted
Haiyi Zhou Haiyi Zhou 1Pei Yi Pei Yi 1Qifang Xie Qifang Xie 1Wenjie Nie Wenjie Nie 1Xiaoyan Liu Xiaoyan Liu 1Han Xia Han Xia 2Jie Jiang Jie Jiang 1*
  • 1 The Affiliated Changsha Central Hospital, Department of Center for Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment , Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Changsha, China
  • 2 Hugobiotech Co. Ltd., Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Although previous studies have reported the dysregulation of respiratory tract microbiota in infectious diseases, insufficient data exist regarding respiratory microbiota imbalances in the lower respiratory tracts of children with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). In this study, we assessed the value of mNGS in the pathogen diagnosis and microbiome analysis of PTB patients using bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples. Methods: A total of 64 participants, comprising 43 pediatric PTB and 21 pediatric pneumonia patients were recruited in the present study. BALF samples were collected from the above participants. Parallel comparisons between mNGS and conventional microbial test (CMT) pathogen detection were performed. Moreover, the diversity and structure of all 64 patients’ lung BALF microbiomes were explored using the mNGS data. Results: Comparing to the final clinical diagnosis, mNGS in BALF samples produced a sensitivity of 46.51%, which was lower than that of TB-PCR (55.00%) and Xpert (55.00%). The diagnostic efficacy of PTB can be highly enhanced by mNGS combined with TB-PCR (AUC=0.8140, P<0.0001). There were no significant differences in the diversity either between patients with TB and pneumonia. Positive mNGS pathogen results in pediatric PTB patients significantly affect the β-diversity of the pulmonary microbiota. In addition, significant taxonomic differences were found in BALF specimens from patients with PTB and pneumonia, both of which have unique bacterial compositions. Conclusions: mNGS is valuable in the etiological diagnosis of PTB, and can reveal pulmonary microecological characteristics. For pediatric PTB patients, the mNGS should be implemented early and complementary to CMTs.

    Keywords: Pediatric pulmonary tuberculosis, Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid, metagenomic next-generation sequencing, Microecology, Conventional microbial test

    Received: 08 Sep 2024; Accepted: 28 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhou, Yi, Xie, Nie, Liu, Xia and Jiang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jie Jiang, The Affiliated Changsha Central Hospital, Department of Center for Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment , Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Changsha, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.