Have a personal or library account? Click to login
Characteristics and Clinical Significance of Gut Microbiota in Patients with Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis Cover

Characteristics and Clinical Significance of Gut Microbiota in Patients with Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis

Polish Journal of Microbiology
Volume 74 (2025): Issue 2 (June 2025)
By: JIAQI CAO,  QIAN HE,  MING ZHANG,  RONG ZHOU and  CHUNLAI FENG  
Open Access
|Jun 2025

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1.

Comparison of alpha and beta diversity of gut microbiota between the H and IPA groups. A)Alpha diversity analysis: Shannon index (p = 1.9 × 10−5), inverse Simpson index (p = 1.3 × 10−5); B) Beta diversity analysis: principal coordinate analysis (p = 0.001) and principal component analysis (p = 0.001) based on Bray–Curtis distance. H – healthy controls, IPA – invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.
Comparison of alpha and beta diversity of gut microbiota between the H and IPA groups. A)Alpha diversity analysis: Shannon index (p = 1.9 × 10−5), inverse Simpson index (p = 1.3 × 10−5); B) Beta diversity analysis: principal coordinate analysis (p = 0.001) and principal component analysis (p = 0.001) based on Bray–Curtis distance. H – healthy controls, IPA – invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.

Fig. 2.

Microbial composition and different species analysis of the H and IPA groups at different levels of phylum, genus, and species. A)Phylum-level microbial composition and differential species analysis; B) genus-level microbial composition and differential species analysis; C) species-level microbial composition and differential species analysis. (* p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001; **** p < 0.0001). H – healthy controls, IPA – invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.
Microbial composition and different species analysis of the H and IPA groups at different levels of phylum, genus, and species. A)Phylum-level microbial composition and differential species analysis; B) genus-level microbial composition and differential species analysis; C) species-level microbial composition and differential species analysis. (* p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001; **** p < 0.0001). H – healthy controls, IPA – invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.

Fig. 3.

Differential analysis of metabolic pathways of the gut microbiota between the IPA and H groups and Spearman’s correlation analysis between metabolic pathways and gut microbiota. The color depth in the heat map indicates the strength of the correlation: red indicates a positive correlation, while blue indicates a negative correlation (* p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001). “Depleted” indicates that the metabolic pathway abundance is significantly reduced, and “Enriched” indicates that the metabolic pathway abundance is significantly increased (p < 0.05). H – healthy controls, IPA – invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.
Differential analysis of metabolic pathways of the gut microbiota between the IPA and H groups and Spearman’s correlation analysis between metabolic pathways and gut microbiota. The color depth in the heat map indicates the strength of the correlation: red indicates a positive correlation, while blue indicates a negative correlation (* p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001). “Depleted” indicates that the metabolic pathway abundance is significantly reduced, and “Enriched” indicates that the metabolic pathway abundance is significantly increased (p < 0.05). H – healthy controls, IPA – invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.

Fig.4.

Spearman’s correlation analysis between clinical indicators and gut microbiota in patients with IPA. The color depth in the heat map indicates the strength of the correlation: red indicates a positive correlation and blue indicates a negative correlation (* p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001). APACHE II score - Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score; balf GM – bronchoalveolar lavage fluid galactomannan; blood GM – serum galactomannan; G – serum (1-3)-β-d-glucan; BMI – body mass index; CEA – carcinoembiyonic antigen; CRP – C-reactive protein; E – eosinophil count; E% – eosinophil percentage; L – lymphocyte count; L% – lymphocyte percentage; N – neutrophil count; N% – neutrophil percentage; PCT – procalcitonin; WBC – white blood cell, IPA – invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.
Spearman’s correlation analysis between clinical indicators and gut microbiota in patients with IPA. The color depth in the heat map indicates the strength of the correlation: red indicates a positive correlation and blue indicates a negative correlation (* p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001). APACHE II score - Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score; balf GM – bronchoalveolar lavage fluid galactomannan; blood GM – serum galactomannan; G – serum (1-3)-β-d-glucan; BMI – body mass index; CEA – carcinoembiyonic antigen; CRP – C-reactive protein; E – eosinophil count; E% – eosinophil percentage; L – lymphocyte count; L% – lymphocyte percentage; N – neutrophil count; N% – neutrophil percentage; PCT – procalcitonin; WBC – white blood cell, IPA – invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.

Fig. 5.

Random forest model used to distinguish patients with IPA from healthy controls. A)Random forest mean decrease in accuracy and Gini; B) the area under the curve for the random forest model was obtained with the training set. IPA – invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.
Random forest model used to distinguish patients with IPA from healthy controls. A)Random forest mean decrease in accuracy and Gini; B) the area under the curve for the random forest model was obtained with the training set. IPA – invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.

Comparison of general data between the two groups of patients_

ProjectIPA group (n = 43)H group (n = 31)p-value
Basic information
Sex (Male) [n (%)]32 (74.4)18 (58.1)p>0.05
Age (years) (IQR)73 (67 ~ 77)63 (54 ~ 82)p>0.05
Underline illness [n (%)]
Diabetes2 (4.7)1 (3.2)p>0.05
Hypertension11 (25.6)3 (9.7)p>0.05
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease7 (16.3)0p>0.05
Malignant diseases of the blood system7 (16.3)0p>0.05
Rheumatic diseases5 (11.6)0p>0.05
Solid organ malignancy2 (4.7)0p>0.05
No underline diseases9 (20.9)27 (87.1)p< 0.05
Clinical indicators
White blood cell (109/l)6.3 ± 3.5–
Neutrophil count (109/l)5.0 ± 3.1–
Neutrophil percentage (%)73.9 ± 15.4–
Eosinophil count (109/l)0.1 ± 0.1–
Eosinophil percentage (%)1.5 ± 3.0–
Lymphocyte count (109/l)0.9 ± 0.6–
Lymphocyte percentage (%)17.5 ±11.8–
Serum (1-3)-β-d-glucan (pg/ml)48.8 ±79.9–
Serum galactomannan (μg/l)0.8 ± 1.3–
Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid Galactomannan (μg/l)3.7 ± 4.0–
Carcinoembryonic antigen (ng/ml)2.9 ± 2.6–
C-reactive protein (mg/l)73.6 ±71.1–
Procalcitonin (ng/ml)2.3 ± 5.9–
APACHE II score16.1 ±10.0–
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33073/pjm-2025-011 | Journal eISSN: 2544-4646 | Journal ISSN: 1733-1331
Journal RSS Feed
Language: English
Page range: 131 - 142
Submitted on: Dec 18, 2024
Accepted on: Feb 15, 2025
Published on: Jun 9, 2025
Published by: Polish Society of Microbiologists
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 4 issues per year
Keywords:
invasive pulmonary aspergillosis,
gut microbiota,
microbial diversity,
metagenomic next-generation sequencing,
random forest
Related subjects:
Life sciences,
Microbiology and virology

© 2025 JIAQI CAO, QIAN HE, MING ZHANG, RONG ZHOU, CHUNLAI FENG, published by Polish Society of Microbiologists
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Volume 74 (2025): Issue 2 (June 2025)Next article