Respiratory microbiota: addressing clinical questions, informing clinical practice
Open accessAbstract
Over the last decade, technological advances have revolutionised efforts to understand the role played by microbes in airways disease. With the application of ever more sophisticated techniques, the literature has become increasingly inaccessible to the non-specialist reader, potentially hampering the translation of these gains into improvements in patient care. In this article, we set out the key principles underpinning microbiota research in respiratory contexts and provide practical guidance on how best such studies can be designed, executed and interpreted. We examine how an understanding of the respiratory microbiota both challenges fundamental assumptions and provides novel clinical insights into lung disease, and we set out a number of important targets for ongoing research.
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Individuals with chronic airway diseases (e.g., cystic fibrosis, COPD) have increased bacterial populations in the lungs and differences in the relative abundance of certain species.
“Individuals with chronic airway diseases (e.g., cystic fibrosis, COPD) have increased bacterial populations in the lungs (77) and differences in the relative abundance of certain species”
From Respiratory viral infection-induced microbiome alterations and secondary bacterial pneumonia. (2018) · cites this paper as [81]
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- Authors
- Rogers, G. B., Shaw, D., Marsh, R. L., Carroll, M. P., Serisier, D. J., & Bruce, K. D.
- Affiliations
- Flinders University (AU)
- University of Nottingham (GB)
- Charles Darwin University (AU)
- University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- Translational Research Institute (AU)
- King's College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Shaw, Dominick
- Venue
- Thorax
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2014-07-17
- Volume
- 70
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 74-81
- ISSN
- 0040-6376 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-3296
- PMC
- PMC4283665
- OpenAlex
- W2136243031
- Cited by
- 96
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 1.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- Thorax (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Nottingham
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Asthma and respiratory diseases
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
- Keywords
- respiratory microbiota, airway microbiome, lung disease, clinical translation, research design, clinical practice
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Respiratory System, Immunity, Mucosal, Respiratory Mucosa, Microbiota
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