Relationship between maternal–infant gut microbiota and infant food allergy

Abstract

The gut microbiota plays a crucial role in food allergies. We sought to identify characteristics of the maternal gut microbiota in the third trimester and the infant gut microbiota in early life and the association of these microbiotas with infant food allergy. A total of 68 healthy pregnant women and their full-term newborns were selected from a cohort of 202 mother–infant pairs; among them, 24 infants had been diagnosed with food allergy within 1 year of age, whereas 44 infants were healthy without allergic symptoms. We collected 65 maternal fecal samples before delivery and 253 infant fecal samples at five time points following birth. Fecal samples were microbiologically analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Holdemania abundance in the maternal gut microbiota in the third trimester was significantly higher in the non-allergy group than in the food allergy group (P = 0.036). In the infant gut microbiota, Holdemania was only found in meconium samples; its abundance did not differ significantly between the two groups. The change in the abundance of Actinobacteria over time differed between the non-allergy and food allergy groups (FA, P = 0.013; NA, P = 9.8 × 10−5), and the change in the abundance of Firmicutes over time differed significantly in the non-allergy group (P = 0.023). The abundances of genera Anaerotruncus, Roseburia, Ruminococcus, and Erysipelotricaceae were significantly different between the non-allergy and food allergy groups at different time points. Our results showed that maternal carriage of Holdemania during the third trimester strongly predicted the absence of food allergies in infants; there was no correlation between the presence of food allergies and the abundance of Holdemania in the infant gut microbiota. More dynamic fluctuations in phyla Actinobacteria and Firmicutes early in life protect against food allergy. Thus, the enrichment of the infant gut microbiota early in life with short-chain fatty acid-producing bacteria may be beneficial in preventing the development of food allergies in infants.

The alternative bile acid pathway can predict food allergy persistence in early childhood

“…Based on a recent study, no significant difference in Actinobacteria composition was found between the FA group and controls at 1 month of age. However, in 6 months of age, a significant increase in the composition of Actinobacteria was observed in the FA group, whereas no significant difference was noted in the controls 33 . These results suggest that the distribution of Actinobacteria may play a role in the development of FA, and further research is needed.…”

“…However, in 6 months of age, a significant increase in the composition of Actinobacteria was observed in the FA group, whereas no significant difference was noted in the controls. 33 These HDCA and LCA levels were negatively associated with specific IgE levels in egg white. Decreased levels of bile acid metabolites, especially those produced via the alternative pathway, were associated with an increase in sensitization to egg whites, the most common cause of infant FA.…”

The First 1000 Days of Life: How Changes in the Microbiota Can Influence Food Allergy Onset in Children

“…Firmicutes [44,54,70] Lactobacillaceae Lactobacillus [8,19,24,41,54,69] Clostridiaceae Clostridium [8,14,26,35,65,70] Anaerobacter [57,65] Staphylococcaceae Staphylococcus [8,19,61,62] Lachnospiraceae Roseburia [11] Lachnospira [11,54,71,83] Coprococcus [11] Streptococcaceae Streptococcus [61,62] Table 1. Cont.…”

Animal Models for the Study of Food Allergies

“…Humanized mouse models generated by engrafting human cells or tissues into immunodeficient mice (Walsh et al., 2017) are predominantly created by injecting human PBMCs or HSCs from healthy or allergic donors into SCID mice (Burton et al., 2018; Burton et al., 2017; Hardy et al., 2022; Parvataneni et al., 2015; Wang et al., 2022; Weigmann et al., 2012) (Table 5). The SCID mice lack B and T cells and, in some cases, have been crossed with tg and KO mice (Ito et al., 2021).…”