Imperial College London
Alternate

Dr Peter Kelleher

Faculty of Medicine, Department of Infectious Disease

Reader in Immunology
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 3315 8251p.kelleher

 
 
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Location

 

J.2.10Chelsea and Westminster HospitalChelsea and Westminster Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Shah:2022:10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104024,
author = {Shah, A and Hull, J and Moffatt, M and Cookson, W and Kelleher, W and Cuthbertson, L},
doi = {10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104024},
journal = {EBioMedicine},
pages = {1--16},
title = {Evidence of immunometabolic dysregulation and airway dysbiosis in athletes susceptible to respiratory illness},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104024},
volume = {79},
year = {2022}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - BackgroundRespiratory tract infection (RTI) is a leading cause of training and in-competition time-loss in athlete health. The immune factors associated with RTI susceptibility remain unclear. In this study, we prospectively characterise host immune factors in elite athletes exhibiting RTI susceptibility.MethodsPeripheral blood lymphocyte flow cytometry phenotyping and 16S rRNA microbial sequencing of oropharyngeal swabs was performed in a prospective elite athlete cohort study (n=121). Mass cytometry, peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) stimulation and plasma metabolic profiling was performed in age-matched highly-susceptible (HS) athletes (≥4RTI in last 18 months) (n=22) compared to non-susceptible (NS) (≤1RTI in last 18 months) (n=23) athletes. Findings were compared to non-athletic healthy controls (HC) (n=19).FindingsAthletes (n=121) had a reduced peripheral blood memory T regulatory cell compartment compared to HC (p=0.02 (95%CI:0.1,1.0)) and reduced upper airway bacterial biomass compared to HC (p=0.032, effect size r=0.19). HS athletes (n=22) had lower circulating memory T regulatory cells compared to NS (n=23) athletes (p=0.005 (95%CI:-1.5,-0.15)) and HC (p=0.002 (95%CI:-1.9,-0.3) with PBMC microbial stimulation assays revealing a T-helper 2 skewed immune response compared to HC. Plasma metabolomic profiling showed differences in sphingolipid pathway metabolites (a class of lipids important in infection and inflammation regulation) in HS compared to NS athletes and HC, with sphingomyelin predictive of RTI infection susceptibility (p=0.005).InterpretationAthletes susceptible to RTI have reduced circulating memory T regulatory cells, metabolic dysregulation of the sphingolipid pathway and evidence of upper airway bacterial dysbiosis.FundingThis study was funded by the English Institute of Sport (UK).
AU  - Shah,A
AU  - Hull,J
AU  - Moffatt,M
AU  - Cookson,W
AU  - Kelleher,W
AU  - Cuthbertson,L
DO  - 10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104024
EP  - 16
PY  - 2022///
SN  - 2352-3964
SP  - 1
TI  - Evidence of immunometabolic dysregulation and airway dysbiosis in athletes susceptible to respiratory illness
T2  - EBioMedicine
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104024
UR  - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352396422002080?via%3Dihub
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/96841
VL  - 79
ER  -
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