title: Respiratory microbiota: addressing clinical questions, informing clinical practice.
abstract: Over the last decade, technological advances have revolutionised efforts to understand the role played by microbes in airways disease. With the application of ever more sophisticated techniques, the literature has become increasingly inaccessible to the non-specialist reader, potentially hampering the translation of these gains into improvements in patient care. In this article, we set out the key principles underpinning microbiota research in respiratory contexts and provide practical guidance on how best such studies can be designed, executed and interpreted. We examine how an understanding of the respiratory microbiota both challenges fundamental assumptions and provides novel clinical insights into lung disease, and we set out a number of important targets for ongoing research.
authors.affiliation: SAHMRI Infection and Immunity Theme, School of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.
authors.forename: Geraint B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.affiliation: Nottingham Respiratory Research Unit, University of Nottingham, Nottingham City Hospital, Nottingham, Notts, UK.
authors.forename: Dominick
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.affiliation: Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
authors.forename: Robyn L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Marsh
authors.affiliation: Cystic Fibrosis Unit, Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: Mary P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Carroll
authors.affiliation: Immunity, Infection, and Inflammation Program, Mater Research Institute, University of Queensland, and Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba, Queensland, Australia Department of Respiratory Medicine, Mater Adult Hospital, South Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Serisier
authors.affiliation: King's College London, Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, London, UK.
authors.forename: Kenneth D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Bruce
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D018928:Immunity, Mucosal; D064307:Microbiota; D020545:Respiratory Mucosa / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D012137:Respiratory System / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*
keywords: Bacterial Infection