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Peer-reviewedCC BYMicrobial ecology

Exploratory analysis of nasal and gut microbial community structure in preschool children with recurrent wheeze.

  • Silvia Gschwendtner1
  • Nicole Maison2,3,4
  • Sabina Illi3,4
  • Erika von Mutius2,3,4
  • Ilona Rosenboom5,6
  • Burkhard Tümmler5,6
  • Anna-Maria Dittrich5,6,7
  • Markus Weckmann8,9,10
  • Mustafa Abdo8,11
  • Benjamin Waschki8,11
  • Matthias V Kopp8,9,12
  • Gesine Hansen5,6
5 more authors
  • Folke Brinkmann8,9
  • Klaus Rabe8,11
  • Bianca Schaub2,3,13
  • Michael Schloter14,15,16
  • the ALLIANCE Study Group
16 affiliations
  1. 1Research Unit of Comparative Microbiome Analysis, Helmholtz Munich, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.
  2. 2Department of Pediatric Allergology, Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany.
  3. 3Comprehensive Pneumology Center Munich (CPC-M), German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Munich, Germany.
  4. 4Institut für Asthma- und Allergieprävention (IAP), Helmholtz Munich, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.
  5. 5Department of Pediatric Pneumology, Allergology and Neonatology, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, Germany.
  6. 6Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease Hannover (BREATH), German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Hanover, Germany.
  7. 7Cluster of Excellence RESIST (EXC 2155), German Research Foundation (DFG), Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
  8. 8Airway Research Center North (ARCN), German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Borstel, Lübeck and Großhansdorf, Germany.
  9. 9Department of Paediatric Pneumology & Allergology, University Clinics Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), Lübeck, Germany.
  10. 10Division of Epigenetics in Chronic Lung Disease, Priority Area Chronic Lung Diseases, Leibniz Lung Center, Research Center Borstel, Borstel, Germany.
  11. 11LungenClinic Grosshansdorf GmbH, Grosshansdorf, Germany.
  12. 12Department of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine, Inselspital, University Children's Hospital of Bern, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
  13. 13German Center for Child and Adolescent Health (DZKJ), Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital, LMU, Munich, Germany.
  14. 14Research Unit of Comparative Microbiome Analysis, Helmholtz Munich, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany. [email protected].
  15. 15Comprehensive Pneumology Center Munich (CPC-M), German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Munich, Germany. [email protected].
  16. 16Chair for Environmental Microbiology, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany. [email protected].
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Abstract

Early-life wheezing has been associated with microbial alterations along the gut-airway axis, yet few studies have examined bacterial communities in both compartments within the same children. This cross-sectional exploratory pilot study (n=25) characterized nasal and stool bacterial communities in children aged 1-4 years with recurrent wheeze and healthy controls using 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding. Across participants, nasal and stool bacteriomes were highly individualized and taxonomically diverse. Overall richness, evenness, and global community composition did not differ significantly between healthy controls and children with recurrent wheeze in either compartment. Nasal communities in the recurrent-wheeze group showed greater within-group dispersion, although the comparison did not reach the conventional significance threshold (p=0.054). Exploratory distance-based stratification identified a subgroup with nasal profiles farther from the healthy-control centroid; these profiles had lower richness and evenness, higher Moraxella abundance, and lower abundances of Prevotella spp., Alloprevotella, and Veillonella. No statistically supported genus-level differences were detected in stool samples. Community-assembly and co-occurrence analyses yielded group-specific descriptive patterns in both compartments. Different sets of cross-compartment correlations passed the multiple-testing threshold in healthy controls and children with recurrent wheeze, including correlations of stool Lactococcus with several nasal taxa in the recurrent-wheeze group. Because these analyses were performed in small groups, they are considered hypothesis-generating. These findings identify nasal microbial heterogeneity and exploratory differences in community organization in preschool children with recurrent wheeze, while providing no evidence for causal or Moraxella-driven effects. Larger longitudinal studies with functional measurements are required for validation.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{gschwendtner2026exploratory,
  title = {{Exploratory analysis of nasal and gut microbial community structure in preschool children with recurrent wheeze.}},
  author = {Silvia Gschwendtner and Nicole Maison and Sabina Illi and Erika von Mutius and Ilona Rosenboom and Burkhard Tümmler and Anna-Maria Dittrich and Markus Weckmann and Mustafa Abdo and Benjamin Waschki and Matthias V Kopp and Gesine Hansen and Folke Brinkmann and Klaus Rabe and Bianca Schaub and Michael Schloter and the ALLIANCE Study Group},
  journal = {Microbial ecology},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1007/s00248-026-02867-3},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42955378},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Exploratory analysis of nasal and gut microbial community structure in preschool children with recurrent wheeze.
AU  - Silvia Gschwendtner
AU  - Nicole Maison
AU  - Sabina Illi
AU  - Erika von Mutius
AU  - Ilona Rosenboom
AU  - Burkhard Tümmler
AU  - Anna-Maria Dittrich
AU  - Markus Weckmann
AU  - Mustafa Abdo
AU  - Benjamin Waschki
AU  - Matthias V Kopp
AU  - Gesine Hansen
AU  - Folke Brinkmann
AU  - Klaus Rabe
AU  - Bianca Schaub
AU  - Michael Schloter
AU  - the ALLIANCE Study Group
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/01
JO  - Microbial ecology
DO  - 10.1007/s00248-026-02867-3
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42955378
AB  - Early-life wheezing has been associated with microbial alterations along the gut-airway axis, yet few studies have examined bacterial communities in both compartments within the same children. This cross-sectional exploratory pilot study (n=25) characterized nasal and stool bacterial communities in children aged 1-4 years with recurrent wheeze and healthy controls using 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding. Across participants, nasal and stool bacteriomes were highly individualized and taxonomically diverse. Overall richness, evenness, and global community composition did not differ significantly between healthy controls and children with recurrent wheeze in either compartment. Nasal communities in the recurrent-wheeze group showed greater within-group dispersion, although the comparison did not reach the conventional significance threshold (p=0.054). Exploratory distance-based stratification identified a subgroup with nasal profiles farther from the healthy-control centroid; these profiles had lower richness and evenness, higher Moraxella abundance, and lower abundances of Prevotella spp., Alloprevotella, and Veillonella. No statistically supported genus-level differences were detected in stool samples. Community-assembly and co-occurrence analyses yielded group-specific descriptive patterns in both compartments. Different sets of cross-compartment correlations passed the multiple-testing threshold in healthy controls and children with recurrent wheeze, including correlations of stool Lactococcus with several nasal taxa in the recurrent-wheeze group. Because these analyses were performed in small groups, they are considered hypothesis-generating. These findings identify nasal microbial heterogeneity and exploratory differences in community organization in preschool children with recurrent wheeze, while providing no evidence for causal or Moraxella-driven effects. Larger longitudinal studies with functional measurements are required for validation.
SN  - 0095-3628
SN  - 1432-184X
ER  -