Figures & data
Figure 1 Subject enrollment flowchart.
Note: In total, 232 subjects (209 patients with bronchiectasis and 23 healthy subjects) underwent screening; the baseline assessment included 106 bronchiectasis patients and 17 healthy subjects; 22 patients were included in the exacerbation subgroup, of whom 19 completed convalescence visits.
Table 1 Comparison of demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with bronchiectasis when stratified by sputum culture findings
Figure 2 Microbial compositions at phyla and genera levels in patients with bronchiectasis and healthy subjects.
Notes: (A) Relative abundance of bacterial phyla in PA (n=45), PPM (n=41), and Comm (n=20) groups and in healthy subjects (n=17). (B) Comparison of microbial diversity (Shannon–Wiener Diversity Index) of bacterial phyla in PA (n=45), PPM (n=41), and Comm (n=20) groups and in healthy subjects (n=17). (C) Relative abundance of compositions of different bacterial genera in PA (n=45), PPM (n=41) and Comm (n=20) groups and in healthy subjects (n=17). (D) Comparison of microbial diversity (Shannon–Wiener Diversity Index) of different bacterial genera in PA (n=45), PPM (n=41), and Comm (n=20) groups and in healthy subjects (n=17) (B and D), greater values of the Shannon–Wiener Diversity Index represent greater magnitudes of bacterial diversity. The black lines within the boxes are the medians, whereas the ends of the whiskers correspond to the range. No significant difference in microbial community diversity is observed between the Comm group and healthy subjects, whereas microbial compositions differ considerably between the PA group and the rest of the groups.
Abbreviations: Comm, commensals; PA, Pseudomonas aeruginosa; PPM, potentially pathogenic microorganism.
Abbreviations: Comm, commensals; PA, Pseudomonas aeruginosa; PPM, potentially pathogenic microorganism.
Table 2 The percentage similarity of microbial community (at genera levels) in patients with bronchiectasis when clinically stable
Figure 3 Dissimilarity of phylum Proteobacteria and its major genera in patients with bronchiectasis when clinically stable or during exacerbations.
Notes: (A) Principal component analysis showing distinct phyla in PA (n=45), PPM (n=41), and Comm (n=20) groups. The first principal coordinate explains 89.8% of the variance in bacterial phyla compositions, whereas the second principal coordinate explains 9.6% of the variance in bacterial phyla compositions. (B) Principal component analysis showing distinct Proteobacteria species in PA (n=45), PPM (n=41), and Comm (n=20) groups. The first principal coordinate explains 57.2% of the variance in bacterial genera compositions, whereas the second principal coordinate explains 25.1% of the variance in bacterial genera compositions. Using principal coordinate analysis, we assign each item of high-dimensional data a location on a low-dimensional space according to the distance matrix. Presented in are the first principal coordinate (PC1), which accounts for the majority of the variability in the data, whereas the second principal coordinate (PC2) accounts for most of the residual variability. The greater proximity of individual points (which represent individual sputum samples) corresponds to a greater magnitude of similarity between different bacterial communities. Moreover, we present arrows which indicate the degree of correlation of the relative abundance of the dominant operational taxonomic units. Grouping was purely based on the sputum culture findings at baseline visits (when clinically stable). Therefore, sputum bacteriology was not applied for grouping during exacerbation visits.
Abbreviations: Comm, commensals; PPM, potentially pathogenic microorganism; PA, P. aeruginosa; AE, acute exacerbation; PC, principal component.
Abbreviations: Comm, commensals; PPM, potentially pathogenic microorganism; PA, P. aeruginosa; AE, acute exacerbation; PC, principal component.
Figure 4 Pairwise comparison of Bray–Curtis distances in 17 patients with bronchiectasis (stratified by sputum culture findings) when clinically stable as well as during exacerbations and convalescence based on the non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis.
Notes: (A) Pairwise comparison of Bray–Curtis distances in the PA group based on the non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis. (B) Pairwise comparison of Bray–Curtis distances in the PPM group based on the non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis. (C) Pairwise comparison of Bray–Curtis distances in the Comm group based on the non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis. There were considerable overlaps in the dots representing different clinical visits for individuals in PA group, particularly when comparing Bray–Curtis distances between clinically stable and exacerbation. However, there were significant separations in the PPM and Comm groups, particularly focusing on clinically stable and exacerbation visits. Grouping was purely based on the sputum culture findings at baseline visits (when clinically stable). Therefore, sputum bacteriology was not applied for grouping during exacerbation or convalescence. The number of patients included for analyses was ten in the PA group, seven in the PPM group (two patients did not undergo convalescence visits), and five in the Comm group (one patient did not undergo a convalescence visit, respectively.
Abbreviations: Comm, commensals; PA, Pseudomonas aeruginosa; PPM, potentially pathogenic microorganism; NMDS, non-metric multidimensional scaling.
Abbreviations: Comm, commensals; PA, Pseudomonas aeruginosa; PPM, potentially pathogenic microorganism; NMDS, non-metric multidimensional scaling.
