Abstract
A body of evidence suggests that food allergy (FA) has increased in prevalence over the past few decades. Novel findings support the hypothesis that some commensal bacteria and particularly microbial metabolites might contribute to development of oral tolerance and prevention from FA. Recently, beneficial effects of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), the main class of gut microbiota-derived metabolites, on FA have been proposed. The intestinal SCFAs are major end products during bacterial fermentation of complex and non-digestible carbohydrates such as dietary fiber. The multifaceted mechanisms underlying beneficial effects of SCFAs on the mucosal immune system comprise the regulation of diverse cellular pathways in epithelial, dendritic, and T cells, as well as the impact on the immunometabolism and epigenetic status of regulatory lymphocytes. Of note, SCFAs are effective inhibitors of histone deacetylases (HDACs). As a consequence, SCFAs appear to be implicated in attenuation of intestinal inflammation and autoimmune diseases. In this review, we will discuss the recent development in this research area by highlighting the role of the individual SCFAs acetate, propionate, butyrate, and pentanoate in promoting the differentiation of regulatory T and B cells and their potential beneficial effects on the prevention of FA. In this context, targeted alterations in the gut microbiota in favor of SCFA producers or supplementation of medicinal food enriched in SCFAs could be a novel therapeutic concept for FA.
Highlights
The human gut harbors one of the densest microbial habitats on the planet Earth containing thousands of uncharacterized metabolites
This review summarizes recent work carried out over the past several years illustrating diverse impacts of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and dietary fiber on host immune system, microbial, and oral tolerance, as well as their beneficial effects on food allergy
There is some evidence that surface molecules of commensal bacteria, and soluble microbial metabolites such as SCFAs support the synthesis of protective IgA and IgG antibodies during the intestinal infection with Citrobacter rodentium by increasing activity of mTOR and glycolysis in B cells [21]
Summary
The human gut harbors one of the densest microbial habitats on the planet Earth containing thousands of uncharacterized metabolites. SCFAs seem to be unique molecules able to regulate the gene expression at the epigenetic levels by modulating the activity of both, HATs and HDACs. further studies are still required to better understand interactions between microbial metabolites, HAT activity and histone acylations, current data suggest that SCFAs provide a pool of acyl groups for generation of acetyl-CoA and other endogenous metabolites in gut epithelial and immune cells, which can be used for various cellular activities [24].
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