2023-09-06 18:08:22
New research suggests that the main childhood allergies may come from gut bacteria. The study, among the first to study multiple pediatric allergies simultaneously, identified a bacterial signature in the gut linked to the development of eczema, asthma, food allergies and hay fever. The results might lead to treatments that restore balance to the microbiota and potentially prevent allergies.
A study links major childhood allergies to gut bacteria, identifying a bacterial signature associated with the development of allergies. Factors such as antibiotic use in infancy and breastfeeding influence this balance, providing insight into potential allergy prevention treatments.
Several major childhood allergies might all stem from the community of bacteria living in our gut, according to a new study by researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and BC Children’s Hospital.
The research, published today (August 29) in the journal Natural Communicationsidentifies gut microbiome characteristics and early life influences associated with children developing one of four common allergies: eczema, asthma, food allergies and/or hay fever. The findings might lead to methods to predict whether a child will develop allergies and ways to prevent their development.
Emergency visits and the need for tracing
“We are seeing more and more children and families seeking help in the emergency department due to allergies,” said Dr. Stuart Turvey, professor in the UBC Department of Pediatrics and researcher at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, and co-lead author of the study. “Hundreds of millions of children around the world suffer from allergies, including one in three children in Canada, and it’s important to understand why it happens and how it can be prevented.
The study is one of the first to simultaneously examine four separate pediatric allergies in school-aged children. Although these allergic diseases each have unique symptoms, the Turvey lab was curious if they might have a common origin related to the composition of the infant’s gut microbiota.
“These are technically different diagnoses, each with their own list of symptoms, so most researchers tend to study them individually,” says Dr. Charisse Petersen, the paper’s co-lead author and postdoctoral researcher. at the Turvey laboratory. “But when you look at what’s wrong at the cellular level, they actually have a lot in common. »
Study results
For the study, the researchers looked at the clinical assessments of 1,115 children followed from birth to age five. About half of the children (523) showed no signs of allergy at any time, while more than half (592) were diagnosed with one or more allergic disorders by a medical expert. The researchers assessed the children’s microbiomes from stool samples collected during clinic visits at three months and one year of age.
The stool samples revealed a bacterial signature associated with the children developing one of four allergies by age five. The bacterial signature is a hallmark of dysbiosis, or an imbalanced gut microbiota, which likely resulted in gut mucosal involvement and an elevated inflammatory response in the gut.
“In general, our bodies tolerate the millions of bacteria living in our intestines because they do so many good things for our health. We tolerate them in part by maintaining a strong barrier between them and our immune cells and by limiting the inflammatory signals that would call these immune cells to action,” explains Courtney Hoskinson, a UBC doctoral student and first author of the article. “We found a common failure of these mechanisms in babies before the development of allergies. »
Factors Influencing Gut Microbiota
Many factors can shape infant gut microbiota, including diet, how we are born, where we live, and our exposure to antibiotics. For example, antibiotics can eliminate susceptible bacteria, while breastfeeding tends to replenish and provide needed nourishment to bacteria in the infant’s gut. The researchers looked at how these types of influences affected the balance of the gut microbiota and the development of allergies.
“This robust analysis can yield many potential conclusions,” says Dr. Turvey. “From these data, we can see that factors such as antibiotic use in the first year of life are more likely to lead to later allergic disorders, while breastfeeding for the first six months is protective. It was universal for all the allergic disorders we studied.
Future research and implications
The researchers now hope to use these results to inform treatments that correct an imbalanced gut microbiota and might potentially prevent the development of allergies.
“Developing therapies that alter these interactions during infancy might therefore prevent the development of all sorts of childhood allergic diseases, which often last a lifetime,” says Dr. Turvey.
The research is part of the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Cohort Study which recruited families through BC Children’s Hospital, BC Women’s Hospital + Health Center and other pediatric hospitals across Canada. Since its launch in 2008, the team of Canadian researchers has tracked children’s health, growth and environment from birth and made important discoveries regarding the development of asthma and allergies.
This study was funded by Genome Canada and Genome British Columbia as well as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Provincial Health Services Authority. The CHILD Cohort Study was made possible with initial funding from the Network of Centers of Excellence in Allergy, Genes and the Environment (AllerGen NCE) and CIHR.
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