Early exposure to antibiotics can trigger long term susceptibility to asthma, according to new research from Monash University. Importantly the research team isolated a molecule produced by gut bacteria that in the future could potentially be trialed as a simple treatment, in the form of a dietary supplement, for children at risk of asthma to prevent them developing the disease.
Asthma affects over 260 million people globally and causes around 455,000 deaths annually.
In Australia, 2.7 million people live with asthma and for 45% of these people, their asthma is
poorly controlled.
The research led by Professor Ben Marsland and published today (TBC) in the journal,
Immunity – found a molecule, called IPA, that is crucial to long term protection against
asthma.
Importantly the finding of the molecule produced by bacteria in a healthy gut provides an
explanation as to why the recurrent use of antibiotics increases the risk of asthma, according
to Professor Marsland. “We know that recurrent use of antibiotics early in life disrupts a
person’s healthy gut microbiota and increases the risk of allergies and asthma. We have
discovered that a consequence of antibiotic treatment is the depletion of bacteria that
produce IPA, thus reducing a key molecule that has the potential to prevent asthma,” he
said.
The first years of life are important in developing a stable gut microbiota, according to
Professor Marsland. “It is shaped first by food intake – both milk and solid foods – as well as
genetics, and environmental exposures. Infants at high risk of allergies and asthma have
been shown to have a disrupted and delayed maturation of the gut microbiome,” he said.
“The use of antibiotics in the first year of life can have the unintentional effect of reducing
bacteria which promote health, and we now know from this research that antibiotics lead to
reduced IPA, which we have found is critical early in life as our lung cells mature, making it a
candidate for early life prevention of allergic airway inflammation.”
Working in mice predisposed to develop asthma, the research team found that – when given
antibiotics in early life – the mice were more susceptible to house-dust mite-induced allergic
airway inflammation and this lasted into adulthood. Asthma is commonly triggered by
exposure to house dust mite.
This susceptibility was maintained long-term, even after the gut microbiome and IPA levels
returned to normal, highlighting that this molecule’s function was particularly important early
in life.
When these mice had their diet supplemented with the IPA molecule early in life, the
researchers found that the mice were effectively cured of developing the house dust mite
induced allergic airway inflammation, or asthma, in adulthood.
Read the full paper in Immunitiy. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2024.06.010
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