During the second half of the 2000s, the significant impact of human microbiome on human diseases and health conditions was found. Since the Human Microbiome Project, many microbiome studies have been reported in domestic and international references. Gastrointestinal tract microbiome has been most investigated so far, and the association with illness has been demonstrated in many diseases. Recently, the range of study was extended to multiple human organs, such as the respiratory tract, skin, and urogenital tract. Given the scale and speed of research and development in recent years, the role of microbiome in many diseases would be established before long. In this review, we aimed to summarize the current status of microbiome studies in Korea and foreign countries with an emphasis on respiratory tract microbiome. The main concept and analytical methods for microbiome research, associations of microbiome and diseases, and research projects on Korean microbiome are reviewed.
Gastrointestinal Microbiome ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans* ; Korea* ; Metagenomics ; Microbiota* ; Pulmonary Ventilation ; Respiratory System ; Skin

PURPOSE: We examined the respiratory morbidities in late-preterm infants compared to those of the early-preterm infants and term infants throughout the first year of life. METHODS: Data were retrospectively collected for 87 late-preterm, 72 early-preterm, and 608 term infants who were admitted to NICU and the nursery of Busan St. Mary's Medical Center from Jan 2007 to Oct 2009. RESULTS: There were significant differences in the proportions of the out-born infants, twin pregnancy, small for gestational age, and Caesarean section in the three groups (P<0.05). Late-preterm and early-preterm infants had longer duration of hospitalization, larger proportions of respiratory distress syndrome, mechanical ventilation at birth, oxygen therapy after 48 hours of birth, oxygen dependency at 28 days, and continuous positive airway pressure support at 28 days compared to term infants during the neonatal period (P=0.000). Late-preterm infants and early-preterm infants were re-admitted more often than term infants during the first year of life (P=0.000). Also Late-preterm and early-preterm infants had increased chance of respiratory tract illness than term infants (P=0.001). CONCLUSION: In this study, we demonstrated that there are higher chances of respiratory morbidities in the late-preterm infants than the term infants either during the neonatal period or throughout the first year of life, although early-preterm infants showed greatest respiratory morbidities.
Cesarean Section ; Continuous Positive Airway Pressure ; Dependency (Psychology) ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Infant ; Nurseries ; Oxygen ; Parturition ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Twin ; Respiration, Artificial ; Respiratory System ; Retrospective Studies

Scoparone, which is a major constituent of Artemisia capillaries, has been identified as an anticoagulant, hypolipidemic, vasorelaxant, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory drug, and it is used for the traditional treatment of neonatal jaundice. Therefore, we hypothesized that scoparone could suppress the proliferation of VSMCs by interfering with STAT3 signaling. We found that the proliferation of these cells was significantly attenuated by scoparone in a dose-dependent manner. Scoparone markedly reduced the serum-stimulated accumulation of cells in the S phase and concomitantly increased the proportion of cells in the G0/G1 phase, which was consistent with the reduced expression of cyclin D1, phosphorylated Rb and survivin in the VSMCs. Cell adhesion markers, such as MCP-1 and ICAM-1, were significantly reduced by scoparone. Interestingly, this compound attenuated the increase in cyclin D promoter activity by inhibiting the activities of both the WT and active forms of STAT3. Similarly, the expression of a cell proliferation marker induced by PDGF was decreased by scoparone with no change in the phosphorylation of JAK2 or Src. On the basis of the immunofluorescence staining results, STAT3 proteins phosphorylated by PDGF were predominantly localized to the nucleus and were markedly reduced in the scoparone-treated cells. In summary, scoparone blocks the accumulation of STAT3 transported from the cytosol to the nucleus, leading to the suppression of VSMC proliferation through G1 phase arrest and the inhibition of Rb phosphorylation. This activity occurs independent of the form of STAT3 and upstream of kinases, such as Jak and Src, which are correlated with abnormal vascular remodeling due to the presence of an excess of growth factors following vascular injury. These data provide convincing evidence that scoparone may be a new preventative agent for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
Active Transport, Cell Nucleus ; Animals ; Biomarkers ; Cell Cycle Proteins/genetics/metabolism ; Cell Movement/drug effects ; Cell Proliferation/drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Coumarins/*pharmacology ; Gene Expression Regulation/drug effects ; Hep G2 Cells ; Humans ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular/*cytology ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle/*metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-sis/metabolism ; Rats ; STAT3 Transcription Factor/genetics/*metabolism ; Signal Transduction/drug effects ; Transcription, Genetic

Asthma is a heterogeneous disease whose development is shaped by a variety of environmental and genetic factors. While several recent studies suggest that microbial dysbiosis in the gut may promote asthma, little is known about the relationship between the recently discovered lung microbiome and asthma. Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) have also been shown recently to participate in asthma. To investigate the relationship between the lung microbiome, ILCs, and asthma, we recruited 23 healthy controls (HC), 42 patients with non-severe asthma, and 32 patients with severe asthma. Flow cytometry analysis showed severe asthma associated with fewer natural cytotoxicity receptor (NCR) + ILC3s in the lung.Similar changes in other ILC subsets, macrophages, and monocytes were not observed. The asthma patients did not differ from the HC in terms of the alpha and beta-diversity of the lung and gut microbiomes. However, lung function correlated positively with both NCR + ILC3 frequencies and microbial diversity in the lung. Sputum NCR + ILC3 frequencies correlated positively with lung microbiome diversity in the HC, but this relationship was inversed in severe asthma. Together, these data suggest that airway NCR + ILC3s may contribute to a healthy commensal diversity and normal lung function.