Immune Netw.
2021 Aug;21(4):e25. 10.4110/in.2021.21.e25.
Interactions between NCR + ILC3s and the Microbiome in the Airways Shape Asthma Severity
- Ham J
1,2 - Kim J1,3
- Choi S4
- Park J5
- Baek Mg4
- Kim YC6
- Sohn KH7
- Cho SH3,6
- Yang S8,9,10
- Bae YS10,11
- Chung DH2,12,13
- Won S14,15,16
- Yi H4,17
- Kang HR3,6
- Kim HY1,2,3,10
- Affiliations
-
- 1Laboratory of Mucosal Immunology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
- 2Department of Biomedical Sciences, BK21 Plus Biomedical Science Project, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
- 3Institute of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul, Korea
- 4Interdisciplinary Program in Precision Public Health, Korea University, Seoul, Korea
- 5Interdisciplinary Program in Bioinformatics, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Korea
- 6Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea
- 7Department of Internal Medicine, Kyung Hee University Hospital, Seoul, Korea
- 8Department of Pharmacology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea
- 9Department of Biomedical Sciences, Graduate School, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea
- 10Center for Immune Research on Non-Lymphoid Organ (CIRNO), Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea
- 11Department of Biological Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea
- 12Department of Pathology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
- 13Laboratory of Immune Regulation, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
- 14Department of Public Health Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
- 15RexSoft Corps, Seoul, Korea
- 16Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
- 17School of Biosystems and Biomedical Sciences, Korea University, Seoul, Korea
- KMID: 2522164
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.4110/in.2021.21.e25
Abstract
- Asthma is a heterogeneous disease whose development is shaped by a variety of environmental and genetic factors. While several recent studies suggest that microbial dysbiosis in the gut may promote asthma, little is known about the relationship between the recently discovered lung microbiome and asthma. Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) have also been shown recently to participate in asthma. To investigate the relationship between the lung microbiome, ILCs, and asthma, we recruited 23 healthy controls (HC), 42 patients with non-severe asthma, and 32 patients with severe asthma. Flow cytometry analysis showed severe asthma associated with fewer natural cytotoxicity receptor (NCR) + ILC3s in the lung. Similar changes in other ILC subsets, macrophages, and monocytes were not observed. The asthma patients did not differ from the HC in terms of the alpha and beta-diversity of the lung and gut microbiomes. However, lung function correlated positively with both NCR + ILC3 frequencies and microbial diversity in the lung. Sputum NCR + ILC3 frequencies correlated positively with lung microbiome diversity in the HC, but this relationship was inversed in severe asthma. Together, these data suggest that airway NCR + ILC3s may contribute to a healthy commensal diversity and normal lung function.
