Relationship Between Gut Microbiota and Lung Function Decline in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: a 1-year Follow-up Study

Objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory lung disease characterized by a persistent limitation in airflow. Gut microbiota is closely correlated with lung inflammation. However, gut microbiota has not been studied in patients with declining lung function, due to chronic lung disease progression.

Subjects And Methods: Stool samples were obtained from 55 patients with COPD that were in stable condition at enrolment (stage 1) and at a 1-year follow-up (stage 2). After extracting stool DNA, we performed next generation sequencing to analyse the distribution of gut microbiota.

Results: Patients were divided to control and declining lung function groups, based on whether the rate of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV) had declined over time. An alpha diversity analysis of initial and follow-up stool samples showed a significant difference in the community richness of microbiota in the declining function group, but not in the control group. At the phylum level, Bacteroidetes was more abundant in the control group and Firmicutes was more abundant in the declining function group. The Alloprevotella genus was more abundant in the control group than in the declining function group. At 1-year follow-up, the mean proportions of Acinetobacter and Stenotrophomonas significantly increased in the control and declining function groups, respectively.

Conclusion: Some community shifts in gut microbiota were associated with lung function decline in COPD patients under regular treatment. Future studies should investigate the mechanism underlying alterations in lung function, due to changes in gut bacterial communities, in COPD.