Secretory IgA and Athlete Nasal Microbiome Diversity Nonresponse to Nordic Competitio

Upper respiratory illnesses affect everyone, cause significant discomfort and are often treated inappropriately. It is therefore important to better understand the myriad of factors associated with developing an upper respiratory illness. A common factor associated with upper respiratory illness is the depression of secretory IgA. This molecule plays a key role in controlling bacterial diversity through mucosal immune function. Since secretory IgA is depressed in athletes after intense exercise it is hypothesized that competition and subsequent recovery from the competition season was associated with changes in microbial diversity in Nordic athletes. To explore this hypothesis, five male and five female athletes had their secretory IgA levels assessed and nasal cavity sampled to measure bacterial diversity before, after and 4-weeks after competition. Additional measures of stress such as C-reactive protein, heart rate variability and psychological state were also measured to more holistically understand the stress response. The physiological measures secretory IgA, C-reactive protein, heart rate variability and ecological measure alpha diversity did not change significantly in response to competition phase. Psychological stress as measured by a RESTQ-Sport questionnaire did change significantly in response to competition phase. There were multiple significant correlations between physiological, psychological and ecological biomarkers. Finally, the genus Pseudomonas generally had the highest relative abundance between the middle meatus and septum of athletes followed by varying percentages of Corynebacterium, Alloiococcus, the Family Enterobacteriaceae and for one subject, the Family Moraxellaceae..