Microbial ecological instability and non-linear host interactions shape airway inflammation in HIV-associated COPD

Abstract Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is increasingly recognized among people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, yet the mechanisms linking airway microbial ecology to chronic inflammation remain poorly understood. Here, we study 200 adults stratified by HIV and COPD status, including 160 participants with two-year longitudinal follow-up, using an integrated multi-omics framework combining sputum 16S rRNA profiling, bacterial outer membrane vesicle quantification, airway cytokine profiling, CyTOF immune phenotyping, bulk transcriptomics of induced sputum, bronchoalveolar lavage and peripheral blood, and bronchoalveolar lavage single-cell RNA sequencing-guided deconvolution. We find that sputum microbial communities are shaped predominantly by temporal ecological turnover rather than HIV or COPD status. Although microbial diversity, microbiome instability, outer membrane vesicle burden and inferred airway cellular composition remain largely preserved, HIV-associated COPD exhibits disease-specific microbial signatures together with inflammatory transcriptional remodeling concentrated in induced sputum. Integrated analyses identify selective host-microbe interaction networks linking discrete microbial taxa with inflammatory, immune and transcriptional programmes.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2026-10-06
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-78400-4
Primary Topic
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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Microbial ecological instability and non-linear host interactions shape airway inflammation in HIV-associated COPD

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Microbial ecological instability and non-linear host interactions shape airway inflammation in HIV-associated COPD

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article en

Abstract

Abstract Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is increasingly recognized among people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, yet the mechanisms linking airway microbial ecology to chronic inflammation remain poorly understood. Here, we study 200 adults stratified by HIV and COPD status, including 160 participants with two-year longitudinal follow-up, using an integrated multi-omics framework combining sputum 16S rRNA profiling, bacterial outer membrane vesicle quantification, airway cytokine profiling, CyTOF immune phenotyping, bulk transcriptomics of induced sputum, bronchoalveolar lavage and peripheral blood, and bronchoalveolar lavage single-cell RNA sequencing-guided deconvolution. We find that sputum microbial communities are shaped predominantly by temporal ecological turnover rather than HIV or COPD status. Although microbial diversity, microbiome instability, outer membrane vesicle burden and inferred airway cellular composition remain largely preserved, HIV-associated COPD exhibits disease-specific microbial signatures together with inflammatory transcriptional remodeling concentrated in induced sputum. Integrated analyses identify selective host-microbe interaction networks linking discrete microbial taxa with inflammatory, immune and transcriptional programmes.

Nature Communications
Austrian Academy of Sciences (AT), Johns Hopkins University (US), University of Miami (US), Medical University of Graz (AT), Max Delbrück Center (DE), Africa Center (US), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE), Lung Institute (US), Infectious Diseases Institute (UG), Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration (UG), German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DE), CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine (AT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE), University College London (GB), Makerere University (UG), Medical University of Vienna (AT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE)
European Commission, National Institutes of Health, Fogarty International Center
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 12%
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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