Direct sampling of cystic fibrosis lungs indicates that DNA-based analyses of upper-airway specimens can misrepresent lung microbiota.

ABSTRACT: Recent work using culture-independent methods suggests that the lungs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients harbor a vast array of bacteria not conventionally implicated in CF lung disease. However, sampling lung secretions in living subjects requires that expectorated specimens or collection devices pass through the oropharynx. Thus, contamination could confound results. Here, we compared culture-independent analyses of throat and sputum specimens to samples directly obtained from the lungs at the time of transplantation. We found that CF lungs with advanced disease contained relatively homogenous populations of typical CF pathogens. In contrast, upper-airway specimens from the same subjects contained higher levels of microbial diversity and organisms not typically considered CF pathogens. Fur

SUBMITTER: Goddard AF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3427132 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature