Nasopharyngeal microbiota as a diagnostic biomarker for chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.
- 1Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, Jiangxi, China.
- 2Clinical Research Center, First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, Jiangxi, China.
Abstract
Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is a common inflammatory disorder with high postoperative recurrence rates. The nasopharyngeal microbiome may play a role in disease pathogenesis, but its diagnostic and prognostic utility remains unclear. This study characterized the nasopharyngeal microbiota in CRSwNP patients and evaluated its potential as a biomarker. 32 nasopharyngeal swab samples from CRSwNP patients and 11 from controls were collected and subjected to 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Microbial diversity, species composition, and differential abundance were analyzed. A diagnostic model was constructed using LASSO regression, with feature selection performed entirely within a 10-fold cross-validation framework, and model stability was validated via 100 Bootstrap resampling iterations. For recurrence prediction, due to the limited number of events (n=10), only exploratory univariate screening was conducted, and the stability of candidate biomarkers was evaluated using Bootstrap validation with internal feature selection (300 iterations). CRSwNP patients exhibited significantly altered microbial composition at phylum and genus levels, as well as higher Shannon and Chao1 indices compared with controls, although the clinical and biological significance of this diversity increase requires further investigation. The three-genus combined diagnostic panel consisting of Fibrobacter, Ruminococcaceae_UCG-002, and Staphylococcus demonstrated favorable diagnostic performance. For recurrence prediction, Helicobacter and Parabacteroides were identified as stable candidate biomarkers, with Bootstrap selection frequencies of 24.0% and 27.3%, respectively. The recurrence-related findings are exploratory hypothesis-generating results and do not possess clinical predictive capability; they require validation in an independent large-cohort study. The nasopharyngeal microbiota of CRSwNP patients exhibited significant alterations. The three-genus combined diagnostic panel demonstrated good discriminatory ability, supporting its potential as a non-invasive diagnostic biomarker. The identification of recurrence-related markers provides candidate targets for future research; however, due to the limited sample size, they currently lack clinical predictive capability. This study provides foundational data for microbiome research and clinical translation in CRSwNP.
Related
- Eosinophil Peroxidase Activity is a Reliable and Resilient Biomarker for Eosinophilic Chronic Rhinosinusitis
- Eosinophil Granule Proteins in Chronic Rhinosinusitis: A Systematic Review of Biomarker Utility for Disease Characterization and Outcomes
- Increased expression of hPGDS‑PGD2 in patients with eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps
- Ocular Surface Findings in Patients with Surgery-Indicated Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps: A Retrospective Study
- Endotype and Sample Site-Related Periostin Upregulation in Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyposis: A Systematic Review
BibTeX
@article{liu2026nasopharyngeal,
title = {{Nasopharyngeal microbiota as a diagnostic biomarker for chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.}},
author = {Xiao Liu and Wenfei Yang and Yingbin Wang and Shaoping Peng and Jing Zhou and Quanpeng Qiu},
journal = {Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fcimb.2026.1865473},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42997464},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Nasopharyngeal microbiota as a diagnostic biomarker for chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.
AU - Xiao Liu
AU - Wenfei Yang
AU - Yingbin Wang
AU - Shaoping Peng
AU - Jing Zhou
AU - Quanpeng Qiu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/13
JO - Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology
DO - 10.3389/fcimb.2026.1865473
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42997464
AB - Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is a common inflammatory disorder with high postoperative recurrence rates. The nasopharyngeal microbiome may play a role in disease pathogenesis, but its diagnostic and prognostic utility remains unclear. This study characterized the nasopharyngeal microbiota in CRSwNP patients and evaluated its potential as a biomarker. 32 nasopharyngeal swab samples from CRSwNP patients and 11 from controls were collected and subjected to 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Microbial diversity, species composition, and differential abundance were analyzed. A diagnostic model was constructed using LASSO regression, with feature selection performed entirely within a 10-fold cross-validation framework, and model stability was validated via 100 Bootstrap resampling iterations. For recurrence prediction, due to the limited number of events (n=10), only exploratory univariate screening was conducted, and the stability of candidate biomarkers was evaluated using Bootstrap validation with internal feature selection (300 iterations). CRSwNP patients exhibited significantly altered microbial composition at phylum and genus levels, as well as higher Shannon and Chao1 indices compared with controls, although the clinical and biological significance of this diversity increase requires further investigation. The three-genus combined diagnostic panel consisting of Fibrobacter, Ruminococcaceae_UCG-002, and Staphylococcus demonstrated favorable diagnostic performance. For recurrence prediction, Helicobacter and Parabacteroides were identified as stable candidate biomarkers, with Bootstrap selection frequencies of 24.0% and 27.3%, respectively. The recurrence-related findings are exploratory hypothesis-generating results and do not possess clinical predictive capability; they require validation in an independent large-cohort study. The nasopharyngeal microbiota of CRSwNP patients exhibited significant alterations. The three-genus combined diagnostic panel demonstrated good discriminatory ability, supporting its potential as a non-invasive diagnostic biomarker. The identification of recurrence-related markers provides candidate targets for future research; however, due to the limited sample size, they currently lack clinical predictive capability. This study provides foundational data for microbiome research and clinical translation in CRSwNP.
SN - 2235-2988
ER -