Fig. 4
Clinical determinants correlate with microbial network. (A) Unsupervised stratification of microbial networks with spectral clustering for the 143 COPD patients in EndAECOPD cohort into two clusters (cluster 1, n = 125; cluster 2, n = 18). (B). Visualization of positive and negative interactions between the most abundant taxa in each cluster. Cluster 2 had significantly lower proportion of negative bacterial interactions compared with cluster 1 (P < 0.0001, χ2 test). # denotes paraphyletic group; • denotes unclassified genus; •• denotes classified but unnamed genus. (C). Principal Coordinates Analysis (PCoA) illustrating beta diversity (Weighted UniFrac distance) between network clusters. (D). Comparison of Shannon index and bacterial load (16S rRNA gene copies/uL sputum plug) betweeen clusters (Mann–Whitney U-test). (E). LEfSe analysis of differentially abundant taxa between clusters. (F-L). Comparison of baseline lung function (FEV1% predicted) (F), breathlessness (mMRC) score (G), and sputum total cells (H), neutrophils (I), eosinophils (J), IL-1β (K), and IL-8 (L) between the two identified patient clusters. (M). Comparison of follow-up moderate-to-severe exacerbations between the two clusters. (N). Survival analysis of differences between the two clusters in the time to first exacerbation