Sinusitis Linked to Microbial Diversity

Glynis Steele

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ScienceDaily (Sep. 12, 2012) — A common bacteria ever-present on the human skin and previously considered harmless, may, in fact, be the culprit behind chronic sinusitis, a painful, recurring swelling of the sinuses that strikes more than one in ten Americans each year, according to a study by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco.

The team reports this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine that sinusitis may be linked to the loss of normal microbial diversity within the sinuses following an infection and the subsequent colonization of the sinuses by the culprit bacterium, which is called Corynebacterium tuberculostearicum.

In their study, the researchers compared the microbial communities in samples from the sinuses of 10 patients with sinusitis and from 10 healthy people, and showed that the sinusitis patients lacked a slew of bacteria that were present in the healthy individuals. The patients also had large increases in the amount of Corynebacterium tuberculostearicum in their sinuses, which are located in the forehead, cheeks and eyes.
The team also identified a common bacterium found within the sinuses of healthy people called Lactobacillus sakei that seems to help the body naturally ward off sinusitis. In laboratory experiments, inoculating mice with this one bacterium defended them against the condition.
"Presumably these are sinus-protective species," said Susan Lynch, PhD, an associate professor of medicine and director of the Colitis and Crohn's Disease Microbiome Research Core at UCSF.
What it all suggests, she added, is that the sinuses are home to a diverse "microbiome" that includes protective bacteria. These "microbial shields" are lost during chronic sinusitis, she said, and restoring the natural microbial ecology may be a way of mitigating this common condition.

However, the UCSF-led team warned that the promise of this discovery does not offer an immediate new treatment or cure for sinusitis. Any new approaches based on these observations still have to be developed and tested for safety and effectiveness in human clinical trials.

Full article:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120912161932.htm
 

Nielk

Senior Member
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6,970
Thank you Glynis for this article.

I and I think many others here suffer from chronic sinus issues.

What peaked my interest too is the fact this Dr. Lynch is part of a Colitis and Crohn's research team? I wonder what the connection is?
 

Sasha

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Thanks, Glynis - I've recently discovered that my recurrent headaches over the years are due to chronic sinusitis and I'm getting the symptoms treated by my doctor, but not the cause.

Makes me wonder if we should be shoving Lac. sakei up our noses!
 

RustyJ

Contaminated Cell Line 'RustyJ'
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I did see this, and had a bit of a search to see if I could get some l.sakei. Not sure whether this study is just a plug for sakei, or genuine missing link in our flora. Couldn't really find a retailer apart from a Korean site, in korean.

There is some suggestion that fermented cabbage could be a reliable source - not sure if I'm up for that.
 

alex3619

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Maybe we have been taking our priobiotics wrong. Its a powder right?, why aren't we snorting it? :rofl:

Seriously, nasal priobiotics might be part of the issue. Getting them into the gut might be only part of the solution. I had a flu a few months ago and my nose has been stuffed ever since. I am wondering if this idea is worth testing.

Bye, Alex
 

Nielk

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Hi Alex,

Let me know if you try it. I would be very curious. Do you think it could be harmful?
 

alex3619

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HI Nielk, I would say the risk of it causing harm is low, but not zero. The problem with bacteria, as this article points out, is that in one location they are safe, but another they are dangerous .... when they are in places they are not supposed to be is when problems occur. However its is likely many would have accidentally snarfed priobiotics over the years, if a problem is to develop it would be long term rather than immediate.

Lactobacillus sakei is a meat eating bacteria, used in meat fermentation. Its also used to make sake. Japanese rice wine anyone? (Only kidding.)

Bye, Alex
 

Little Bluestem

All Good Things Must Come to an End
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I find this very interesting. I usually get rebound infections when I take antibiotics. It has gotten worse with age to the point that I usually refuse to take them. While the infections that drove me to take antibiotics were lower respiratory infections, the rebound infections were sinus infections. I suppose the lovely systemic antibiotics they give us for whatever ails us kills off the microbiome in my sinuses and the Corynebacterium tuberculostearicum take over.

The ‘flu’ that was the start of my ME/CFS was nasty enough that I got antibiotics. A guy who I think had the same thing took antibiotics and missed a week of work. The rebound infection was just hellacious. I don’t remember if it included a sinus infection or not. (I don’t recall much of the first several days.) I wonder if it was the rebound infection, not the original infection, that caused the ME/CFS. That is why I let my last respiratory infection go on for 3 months rather than take an antibiotic. I am not sure I would survive another rebound infection.
 

RustyJ

Contaminated Cell Line 'RustyJ'
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This study doesn't limit low l.sakei to sinusitis. The controls were healthy. Other conditions, ie me/cfs, may also have this deficiency, without the symptoms of sinusitis.
 

Little Bluestem

All Good Things Must Come to an End
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4,930
Anyone up to some boggie sharing? :eek: (well they do do those faceal implantation thing.. so maybe it will be boggies next).

Indeed it may be. This was discussed on NPR's "Science Friday" today: http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/09/14/2012/microbes-benefit-more-than-just-the-gut.html
The study author being interviewed said that a nasal spray would not be available until it could clear FDA requirements. She did mention fecal implants and implied that the same could be done for the nasal passages. Apparently the FDA is not so picky about snot. :confused:
 

Sasha

Fine, thank you
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Indeed it may be. This was discussed on NPR's "Science Friday" today: http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/09/14/2012/microbes-benefit-more-than-just-the-gut.html
The study author being interviewed said that a nasal spray would not be available until it could clear FDA requirements. She did mention fecal implants and implied that the same could be done for the nasal passages. Apparently the FDA is not so picky about snot. :confused:

Fascinating broadcast, well worth listening to - 15 mins and the interviewer asks some great questions - such as whether, pending FDA approval for a nasal spray, you can eat the appropriate bacteria and have it migrate to the sinuses. The researcher replies that in a study of children fed certain strains of lacto & bifid bacteria, their upper respiratory symptoms improved, which suggests, maybe - also, good gut bacteria may reduce body-wide inflammation and good bacteria do better in uninflamed organs so a general reduction in inflammation may help repopulate your sinuses with good bacteria (unless I'm now making this up in my head).

I'm already on MAF 878 which is good-bacteria city, but if I wasn't I'd be necking some probiotics for my sinuses after listening to that!
 
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I'm really excited about this as a potential therapy for chronic sinusitis :)

B/c of my current state of desperation with my sinus symptoms, I've been willing to try just about anything. I went down to the local Korean drug store and picked up some Kimchi to attempt probiotic therapy.

I can't eat a lot of kimchi b/c it has A TON of histamines, so I've resorted to saturating small pieces of paper towel in kimchi juice and sticking them up my nose for short periods of time. It's less "icky" than a booger transplant, but about as dignified.

I'll report back if anything life altering. Don't hold your breath.
 

Waverunner

Senior Member
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Interesting study. We know that the Human Microbiome plays a very important role for human health. It would be very nice to see some working treatments in this direction but as long as entry barriers are kept so high through FDA, there will not be companies or scientists who actually try to develop new treatments based on those latest findings. The easiest way to find out if something works, would be to create 50 nasal sprays, each containing one or a few strains of healthy nasal bacteria (this shouldn't be hard to do). Patients, who would like to take the risk, now could try each spray and through trial and error, find what works best for them.

If you want to go the way of the FDA, we either wait till we have working quantum computers in some decades or we spend millions of dollars on phase - 1, 2, 3 - trials where maybe one or two strains are tested. After 8 to 10 years, you know if the treatment actually works. Chances that no company developes any spray at all, are high too, because it's just too expensive.

And the fundamental problem remains. What is causing this imbalance and how can you resolve it? If the cause of this imbalance is an infection or an autoimmune disease, you will not cure it by taking probiotics. There are many PWCs who don't tolerate probiotics or get weird reactions. Moreover, if there was one single treatment, that would work for many PWCs and is prescription free, I can guarantee you, that we would have found it by now because PWCs invest billions of dollars into supplements (because this is the only way to take matters in your own hands, when doctors leave you alone).
 

Sasha

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Are there any probiotics that one can put in their nose or spray up there??

My impression is that this is pretty new research so no accepted therapies yet and also that the microbiome up your nose isn't the same as the one in your gut, so I'd be a bit worried about shoving any old thing up there. :alien:
 
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Yeah- my nose felt a little better (?), but then worse after trying the kimchi. I think probiotoic therapy may be helpful, but the kimchi itself is very hot and spicy; easy to irritate the nose. I don't think it's dangerous; maybe not the smartest idea, but not dangerous. Back on prednisone for me :( .

I've read reports of nasal surgery helping CFS, but it hasn't seemed to help a lot of people here. Do you think it's because the inherent bias that people using these forums are the ones that are sick and not the ones who have gotten better and moved on? I'm going to talk with an allergist/mast cell specialist on Tuesday about alternatives, primarily surgery.
 
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