Microbiota-Mediated Immunomodulation and Asthma: Current and Future Perspectives

Opinion statement Estimated to burden over 300 million people and their families around the world, asthma is now considered one of the most common forms of non-communicable disease worldwide (Masoli et al. Allergy Eur J Allergy Clin Immunol 59:469–78, 2004 1). The epidemic rise in prevalence this disease has seen over recent decades (Platts-Mills J Allergy Clin Immunol 136:3–13, 2015 2) suggests that environmental factors are the primary drivers of this phenomenon. In particular, the importance of early life microbial exposure and the composition of the early life gut and lung microbiota are emerging as key determinants of asthma outcomes later in life. Borne out of epidemiological data showing associations between the composition of the early life gut microbiota and later development of asthma, interest in harnessing the human microbiome as a therapeutic tool to prevent the development of asthma is rising. As research elucidating the mechanisms, specific microbial species, and microbial products mediating this link continues, it is becoming clear that, like the disease itself, the relationships between microbes and their hosts are highly complex and heterogeneous across populations. As a result, probiotic trials aimed at the primary prevention of asthma have been largely unsuccessful thus far. Future work aiming to apply our understanding of the role of the microbiota in health and disease to the prevention of atopic asthma will likely need to take a po...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Allergy - Category: Allergy & Immunology Source Type: research