The microbiome is an intricate internal world of bacteria that live in the gut and other body sites. It is thought that an unhealthy gut microbiome may play a role in the development of food allergies, food sensitivities and leaky gut. Many patients in my practice are not well because they have irritable bowel, poor digestion, and malabsorption due to a diet that has led to the wrong bacteria, or lack of good bacteria, so they develop food sensitivities and worse, food allergies.
A new study, led by investigators from Brigham and Women\’s Hospital and Boston Children\’s Hospital, identifies the specific group of bacteria in the human infant\’s gut that protect against the development of food allergies, and documents differences from gut bacteria associated with development of food allergies and an altered immune response. In preclinical studies in a mouse model of food allergy, the team found that giving an enriched oral formulation of five or six species of bacteria found in the human gut protected against food allergies and reversed established disease by reinforcing tolerance of food allergens. The team\’s results were published in Nature Medicine (see reference below).
Specifically, they found that when a particular group of Clostridiales and Bacteroidetes gut bacteria were present important immunological pathways and specific immune T cells worked together to promote tolerant (healthy) responses to foods instead of allergic ones. These effects were found in the pre-clinical models studied and were also found to occur in human infants. If the investigators administer the right combination of protective bacteria they can prevent food allergies from happening and can reverse existing food allergies. It looks like with the right combination of microbes they can reset the immune system to be more tolerant and less reactive.
Four of the study investigators are involved in development of ConsortiaTX, a company that is developing a live human biotherapeutic product (CTX-944) that will be used in future clinical trials of food allergy in children and other allergic diseases.
Reference: Azza Abdel-Gadir, Emmanuel Stephen-Victor, Georg K. Gerber, Magali Noval Rivas, Sen Wang, Hani Harb, Leighanne Wang, Ning Li, Elena Crestani, Sara Spielman, William Secor, Heather Biehl, Nicholas Dibendetto, Xiaoxi Dong, Dale T. Umetsu, Lynn Bry, Rima Rachid, Talal A. Chatila. Microbiota therapy acts via a regulatory T cell MyD88/RORγt pathway to suppress food allergy. Nature Medicine, 2019; DOI: 10.1038/s41591-019-0461-z