The nasopharyngeal microbiome in COVID-19

The development of novel culture-independent techniques of microbial identification has allowed a rapid progress in the knowledge of the nasopharyngeal microbiota and its role in health and disease. Thus, it has been demonstrated that the nasopharyngeal microbiota defends the host from invading path...

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Main Authors: Sergio Candel, Sylwia D. Tyrkalska, Carmen Álvarez-Santacruz, Victoriano Mulero
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2023-12-01
Series:Emerging Microbes and Infections
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/22221751.2023.2165970
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author Sergio Candel
Sylwia D. Tyrkalska
Carmen Álvarez-Santacruz
Victoriano Mulero
author_facet Sergio Candel
Sylwia D. Tyrkalska
Carmen Álvarez-Santacruz
Victoriano Mulero
author_sort Sergio Candel
collection DOAJ
description The development of novel culture-independent techniques of microbial identification has allowed a rapid progress in the knowledge of the nasopharyngeal microbiota and its role in health and disease. Thus, it has been demonstrated that the nasopharyngeal microbiota defends the host from invading pathogens that enter the body through the upper airways by participating in the modulation of innate and adaptive immune responses. The current COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgent need for fast-track research, especially to identify and characterize biomarkers to predict the disease severity and outcome. Since the nasopharyngeal microbiota diversity and composition could potentially be used as a prognosis biomarker for COVID-19 patients, which would pave the way for strategies aiming to reduce the disease severity by modifying such microbiota, dozens of research articles have already explored the possible associations between changes in the nasopharyngeal microbiota and the severity or outcome of COVID-19 patients. Unfortunately, results are controversial, as many studies with apparently similar experimental designs have reported contradictory data. Herein we put together, compare, and discuss all the relevant results on this issue reported to date. Even more interesting, we discuss in detail which are the limitations of these studies, that probably are the main sources of the high variability observed. Therefore, this work is useful not only for people interested in current knowledge about the relationship between the nasopharyngeal microbiota and COVID-19, but also for researchers who want to go further in this field while avoiding the limitations and variability of previous works.
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spelling doaj-art-50ee0dc42e3446609cb9d58d9fc44d542025-08-20T01:49:27ZengTaylor & Francis GroupEmerging Microbes and Infections2222-17512023-12-0112110.1080/22221751.2023.2165970The nasopharyngeal microbiome in COVID-19Sergio Candel0Sylwia D. Tyrkalska1Carmen Álvarez-Santacruz2Victoriano Mulero3Departamento de Biología Celular e Histología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, SpainDepartamento de Biología Celular e Histología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, SpainServicio de Otorrinolaringología, Hospital de la Vega Lorenzo Guirao, Cieza, Murcia, SpainDepartamento de Biología Celular e Histología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, SpainThe development of novel culture-independent techniques of microbial identification has allowed a rapid progress in the knowledge of the nasopharyngeal microbiota and its role in health and disease. Thus, it has been demonstrated that the nasopharyngeal microbiota defends the host from invading pathogens that enter the body through the upper airways by participating in the modulation of innate and adaptive immune responses. The current COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgent need for fast-track research, especially to identify and characterize biomarkers to predict the disease severity and outcome. Since the nasopharyngeal microbiota diversity and composition could potentially be used as a prognosis biomarker for COVID-19 patients, which would pave the way for strategies aiming to reduce the disease severity by modifying such microbiota, dozens of research articles have already explored the possible associations between changes in the nasopharyngeal microbiota and the severity or outcome of COVID-19 patients. Unfortunately, results are controversial, as many studies with apparently similar experimental designs have reported contradictory data. Herein we put together, compare, and discuss all the relevant results on this issue reported to date. Even more interesting, we discuss in detail which are the limitations of these studies, that probably are the main sources of the high variability observed. Therefore, this work is useful not only for people interested in current knowledge about the relationship between the nasopharyngeal microbiota and COVID-19, but also for researchers who want to go further in this field while avoiding the limitations and variability of previous works.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/22221751.2023.2165970nasopharyngeal microbiotaSARS-CoV-2COVID-1916S rRNA gene sequencingmetagenomic sequencing
spellingShingle Sergio Candel
Sylwia D. Tyrkalska
Carmen Álvarez-Santacruz
Victoriano Mulero
The nasopharyngeal microbiome in COVID-19
Emerging Microbes and Infections
nasopharyngeal microbiota
SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19
16S rRNA gene sequencing
metagenomic sequencing
title The nasopharyngeal microbiome in COVID-19
title_full The nasopharyngeal microbiome in COVID-19
title_fullStr The nasopharyngeal microbiome in COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed The nasopharyngeal microbiome in COVID-19
title_short The nasopharyngeal microbiome in COVID-19
title_sort nasopharyngeal microbiome in covid 19
topic nasopharyngeal microbiota
SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19
16S rRNA gene sequencing
metagenomic sequencing
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/22221751.2023.2165970
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