Abstract

The prevalence of allergic disease has increased significantly over the past decades. Although allergies are inherently multifactorial and heterogenous; environmental, maternal, and early-life microbial exposures could strongly modify disease risk. The effects of environmental microbiota are illustrated by the “farm effect”, showing protection against asthma when children grow up on traditional farms. Recent studies have further revealed an important role for early-life exposure to a microbe-rich environment imposing lung and gut microbiome maturation and immune education, preventing allergic disease in childhood. Advances are made in the field of immunology and microbiome research, which identified entire microbial taxa, as well as specific microbial metabolites and bacterial products associated with reducing disease risk. Here we discuss the cross-talk between the microbiota and the pathogenesis of allergic disease, including bacterial products as lipopolysaccharide and CpG, in the farm effect.

Author Details

Authors

• Vivian I.V. Gerretsen¹,²,³
• Martijn J. Schuijs¹,²

Departments

• ¹ Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Ghent University,
• ² Laboratory of Immunoregulation and Mucosal Immunology, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Ghent, Belgium, and
• ³ Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Address

Martijn J. Schuijs, PhD, VIB-IRC, Technologiepark 71, 9052, Ghent, Belgium
Email: [email protected]

Citation