<p><strong>Introduction</strong>: studies have highlighted the importance of gut microbiota (GM) to the host immune defenses, influencing the host<br />development and physiology. Changes in the composition and diversity of GM have been detected in some disease and could be<br />implicated in the pathophysiological mechanisms of them. <strong>Objective</strong>: the purpose of this study was to show an overview of the<br />current knowledge about the GM of patients with airway diseases (AD). Methodology: the literature search was performed in four<br />databases, using a combination of the descriptors: “Gastrointestinal Microbiome”, “Gut Microbiome”, “Gut Microbiota”, “Cystic Fibrosis”<br />(CF), “Asthma”, “Pulmonary Hypertension” (HP) and/or “Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease” (COPD). <strong>Results</strong>: fifteen studies<br />were herein included: ten of CF and five of asthma. No study about other AD matched the inclusion criteria. In all studies about CF,<br />changes were detected in GM, particularly quantitative and qualitative microbial changes. For asthma, data showed changes in GM<br />also including a reduction of microbial richness, evenness and diversity and in the Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes ratio. Conclusions: the<br />current data indicate the existence of GM changes in AD. However, due to the few studies for asthma and the lack of investigations<br />on HP and COPD, it was not possible to confirm whether these GM changes are observed in other AD. Furthermore, this review shows<br />the necessity of more studies in this area to characterize dysbiosis and which alterations are more frequent observed in AD patients.</p>
Research highlights from the 2017 ERS International Congress: airway diseases in focus
