A Combined Analysis of Gut and Skin Microbiota in Infants with Food Allergy and Atopic Dermatitis: A Pilot Study.

Aneta Krogulska,Marcin Gołębiewski,Tomasz Grzybowski,Maria Popielarz,Marta Gorzkiewicz,Ewa Łoś-Rycharska,Julia Gawryjołek,Marcin Sikora

doi:10.3390/nu13051682

Aneta Krogulska, Marcin Gołębiewski + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13051682

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Abstract

The gut microbiota in patients with food allergy, and the skin microbiota in atopic dermatitis patients differ from those of healthy people. We hypothesize that relationships may exist between gut and skin microbiota in patients with allergies. The aim of this study was to determine the possible relationship between gut and skin microbiota in patients with allergies, hence simultaneous analysis of the two compartments of microbiota was performed in infants with and without allergic symptoms. Fifty-nine infants with food allergy and/or atopic dermatitis and 28 healthy children were enrolled in the study. The skin and gut microbiota were evaluated using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. No significant differences in the α-diversity of dermal or fecal microbiota were observed between allergic and non-allergic infants; however, a significant relationship was found between bacterial community structure and allergy phenotypes, especially in the fecal samples. Certain clinical conditions were associated with characteristic bacterial taxa in the skin and gut microbiota. Positive correlations were found between skin and fecal samples in the abundance of Gemella among allergic infants, and Lactobacillus and Bacteroides among healthy infants. Although infants with allergies and healthy infants demonstrate microbiota with similar α-diversity, some differences in β-diversity and bacterial species abundance can be seen, which may depend on the phenotype of the allergy. For some organisms, their abundance in skin and feces samples may be correlated, and these correlations might serve as indicators of the host’s allergic state.

Highlights

The cause of the growing prevalence of allergic diseases remains unclear, the Old Friends Hypothesis has recently been proposed [1]
No significant differences in diversity (Shannon’s H’), species richness and evenness (Shannon’s E) were found between controls and the participants with either atopic dermatitis (AD), ADFA or food allergy (FA), regardless of the compartment
Our observations suggest that gut dysbiosis might be involved in the development of atopic skin inflammation, even though different organisms were differentially abundant in feces and skin libraries

Summary

Introduction

The cause of the growing prevalence of allergic diseases remains unclear, the Old Friends Hypothesis ( called the Biodiversity Hypothesis) has recently been proposed [1]. The hypothesis states that the development of many diseases, including allergy, might be attributed to a lack of exposure to the “right” bacterial strains. Assuming this to be the case, it may be possible that identifying such bacteria could halt the allergic march and foster the development of novel prevention and treatment methods for allergic diseases. The composition of the human microbiome is characteristic of each individual, and evolves over time [2–7]. In various parts of the child’s body, the microbiome begins to form and differentiate within the first six weeks post natum [2,3].

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