Cow’s milk allergy is on the rise. Up to 5% of children are affected. Not only a rise is observed in prevalence, but also in severity and complexity.
Recent research investigated the role of an altered gut microbiota in infants with CMA, potentially contributing to disease onset and persistence. Several case-control studies have raised the question to what degree an altered gut microbiota in infants with CMA contributes to disease onset and persistence.
Allergy publishes ‘Gut microbiota from infant with Cow’s Milk Allergy (CMA) promotes clinical and immune features of atopy in a murine model of sensitisation and challenge’.
Does an altered gut microbiota in CMA infants compared to healthy infants potentially contribute to CMA onset or severity of clinical and immunological characteristics thereof?
This paper investigated the link between gut microbiota and clinical features, sensitization markers, humoral and T-cell immunity in response to antigenic challenges in an established murine model of CMA. Infants with CMA typically showed lower levels of bifidobacteria compared to healthy control infants. The effects of fecal microbiota transplantation of a healthy control and CMA infant were investigated in a preclinical model.
Conclusion
The presence of a CMA-associated infant gut microbiota promoted clinical and immune parameters of an atopic orientation in a preclinical CMA model. These data suggest that strategies to enrich the gut microbiota of infants with bifidobacteria may play a role in the prevention and dietary management of food allergy. The exact mechanism warrants further research.