Pneumoconiosis is a progressive and life-threatening fibrotic lung disorder caused by the prolonged deposition of inhaled particulate matters (PMs); thus far, no cure is available. Emerging evidence has suggested that the resulting disordered respiratory microbiome is caused by disturbed lung architecture and homeostasis responding to inhalable PMs. Lung microbiome dysbiosis also contributes to injury to the lung and distant organs, such as the intestine, through the lung–gut axis. Current studies on the microbiome–disease interplay are still in their infancy, and sufficient understanding of microbial heterogeneity in pathological processes is lacking. Here we investigated the microbiome in the lung and gut of patients with pneumoconiosis in comparison to healthy individuals. Our findings indicated reciprocal causation between lung injuries and microbial dysbiosis under particle exposure; pulmonary Streptococcus and Stenotrophomonas, along with intestinal Ligilactobacillus and Blautia, may represent key microbial communities influencing pneumoconiosis progression. We defined close microbiota crosstalk between the lung and gut, as evidenced by their interaction networks, implying considerable effects on the gut microenvironment through either direct microbial translocation or other mechanisms such as inflammation-driven alterations. Animal experiments further corroborated the findings in humans. Collectively, our results highlight the potential involvement of the lung–gut axis microbial dysbiosis in pneumoconiosis pathogenesis and open a new avenue to develop microbiome-targeted diagnosis and treatment strategies.

中文翻译：

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肺尘埃沉着病患者和动物对可吸入颗粒物的反应 肺和肠道中的微生物菌群失调

尘肺病是一种进行性且危及生命的纤维化肺病，由吸入颗粒物 （PM） 的长期沉积引起;到目前为止，尚无治愈方法。新出现的证据表明，由此产生的无序呼吸微生物组是由肺结构和对可吸入 PM 的体内平衡反应紊乱引起的。肺微生物组失调还会导致肺和远处器官（如肠道）通过肺-肠轴受伤。目前关于微生物组-疾病相互作用的研究仍处于起步阶段，对病理过程中的微生物异质性缺乏足够的了解。在这里，我们调查了尘肺病患者肺部和肠道中的微生物组与健康个体的比较。我们的研究结果表明，在颗粒暴露下，肺损伤和微生物菌群失调之间存在相互因果关系;肺链球菌和窄食单胞菌 ，以及肠道 Ligilactobacillus 和 Blautia，可能代表影响尘肺病进展的关键微生物群落。我们定义了肺和肠道之间的密切微生物群串扰，正如它们的相互作用网络所证明的那样，这意味着通过直接微生物易位或其他机制（如炎症驱动的改变）对肠道微环境产生相当大的影响。动物实验进一步证实了人类的发现。总的来说，我们的结果强调了肺-肠轴微生物菌群失调可能参与尘肺病发病机制，并为开发微生物组靶向诊断和治疗策略开辟了一条新途径。