This book comprehensively covers the microbiome in respiratory disease, from the initial research study to the disease-specific implications and related applications. Research on the respiratory microbiome is increasing in volume and scope. This reflects rapidly growing interest in the study of respiratory disease to understand how microbiota shape mechanisms of disease pathogenesis. The respiratory tract spans the nasal passages, sinus cavities, oropharynx, and the tracheobronchial tree of the lungs. In these compartments of the upper and lower respiratory tract, the microbiota have now been studied in the context of several chronic respiratory conditions. These include chronic sinusitis, allergic rhinitis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchiectasis and pulmonary fibrosis, to name a few. The potential impact of ecological interactions (i.e., between microbes and between microbiota and host) within and across respiratory compartments is increasingly recognized. The book is organized into two main sections. Part I, Principles and Tools, covers conceptual modeling of the respiratory microbiome, experimental methodology with a focus on a priori considerations in study design and sampling, laboratory and computational methods for analysis of respiratory microbiome data, and minimizing interpretive pitfalls. Part II, Applications, discusses the evidence from specific studies that have shed novel insights into the influence of respiratory microbiota on mechanisms or outcomes in specific diseases. Based on current best evidence, disease-specific chapters include chronic rhinosinusitis, asthma (pediatric and adult studies), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis (CF), bronchiectasis not due to CF, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and lung transplant. This is an ideal reference for forward-thinking practitioners with interest in novel developments in precision medicine applications in lung disease, as well as translational scientists in the field of microbiology, immunology and lung biology.

Studying the lung microbiome requires a specialist approach to sampling, laboratory techniques and statistical analysis. This Monograph introduces the techniques used and discusses how respiratory sampling, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, metagenomics and the application of ecological theory can be used to examine the respiratory microbiome. It examines the different components of the respiratory microbiome: viruses and fungi in addition to the more frequently studied bacteria. It also considers a range of contexts from the paediatric microbiome and how this develops to disease of all ages including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic suppurative lung diseases, interstitial lung diseases, acquired pneumonias, transplantation, cancer and HIV, and the interaction of the respiratory microbiome and the environment.

This book reviews the role of the lung microbiome in the development and progression of lung diseases. It deals with the role of microbiota dysbiosis in influencing host defense and immunity leading to resistance, colonization, and disease exacerbation. The book delineates the complex interaction between pathogen and lung residual microbiota during disease conditions. It further highlights the potential role of lung microbiota as the key modulator of lung carcinogenesis and immune response against cancer cells. Lastly, it reviews technological developments for unraveling the lung microbiome that profoundly impacts clinical diagnostics. This book is an essential resource for the scientists working in pulmonary diseases, pharmaceutical & clinical sciences, and pulmonary clinicians.

The book provides an overview on how the microbiome contributes to human health and disease. The microbiome has also become a burgeoning field of research in medicine, agriculture & environment. The readers will obtain profound knowledge on the connection between intestinal microbiota and immune defense systems, medicine, agriculture & environment. The book may address several researchers, clinicians and scholars working in biomedicine, microbiology and immunology. The application of new technologies has no doubt revolutionized the research initiatives providing new insights into the dynamics of these complex microbial communities and their role in medicine, agriculture & environment shall be more emphasized. Drawing on broad range concepts of disciplines and model systems, this book primarily provides a conceptual framework for understanding these human-microbe, animal-microbe & plant-microbe, interactions while shedding critical light on the scientific challenges that lie ahead. Furthermore this book explains why microbiome research demands a creative and interdisciplinary thinking—the capacity to combine microbiology with human, animal and plant physiology, ecological theory with immunology, and evolutionary perspectives with metabolic science.This book provides an accessible and authoritative guide to the fundamental principles of microbiome science, an exciting and fast-emerging new discipline that is reshaping many aspects of the life sciences. These microbial partners can also drive ecologically important traits, from thermal tolerance to diet in a typical immune system, and have contributed to animal and plant diversification over long evolutionary timescales. Also this book explains why microbiome research presents a more complete picture of the biology of humans and other animals, and how it can deliver novel therapies for human health and new strategies.

A great number of diverse microorganisms inhabit the human body and are collectively referred to as the human microbiome. Until recently, the role of the human microbiome in maintaining human health was not fully appreciated. Today, however, research is beginning to elucidate associations between perturbations in the human microbiome and human disease and the factors that might be responsible for the perturbations. Studies have indicated that the human microbiome could be affected by environmental chemicals or could modulate exposure to environmental chemicals. Environmental Chemicals, the Human Microbiome, and Health Risk presents a research strategy to improve our understanding of the interactions between environmental chemicals and the human microbiome and the implications of those interactions for human health risk. This report identifies barriers to such research and opportunities for collaboration, highlights key aspects of the human microbiome and its relation to health, describes potential interactions between environmental chemicals and the human microbiome, reviews the risk-assessment framework and reasons for incorporating chemicalâ€"microbiome interactions.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and is estimated to become the third most common cause of death over the next decade. The knowledge of COPD pathogenesis and the disease course has greatly improved this progression in understanding and continues to have significant implications in the management of this condition. Novel areas of interest in COPD pathogenesis include further development of animal models, a better understanding of the genetics and epigenetics, the role of the microbiome, and an increasing appreciation of the associated comorbidities. This book intends to provide the reader with a brief overview of these topics and also provide an in-depth review of the current nonpharmacological clinical approaches to managing patients with COPD.

In classical teaching, the lungs were thought of as a sterile environment with the isolation of bacteria on sputum or bronchoalveolar lavage sampling felt to represent pathogenic colonisation in disease states. This teaching has been over-turned with the discovery of a rich microbiome in the respiratory tract. The respiratory microbiome is a huge target for novel research in many fields, most notable in that of airway diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Next-generation sequencing is a culture-independent method for microbial sampling which has transformed the accuracy and speed at which whole microbial communities can be described in studies. This has led to an explosion of knowledge regarding the human respiratory microbiome. COPD is a common, chronic disease of the respiratory system involving an irreversible airway obstruction which places huge burden on patients and healthcare systems alike. The respiratory microbiome is different in those who suffer from COPD than in those without the disease, but little is known as to the role of the microbiome in disease pathogenesis or manifestation. This chapter aims to outline the advances in sequencing methods in relation to the microbiome and establish a description of the respiratory microbiome in health and in COPD. We will describe the existing literature on the topic and discuss potential key areas for future research.