UBC researchers make asthma breakthrough
Posted September 30, 2015 5:51 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER – Canadian researchers have discovered that babies at high risk of developing asthma have low levels of four types of bacteria in their gastrointestinal tracts.
And they say replacing those microbes might prevent the disease.
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that clogs the airways with mucous, causing an affected person to cough, wheeze and have difficulty breathing.
The condition arises when the immune system, which develops early in life through interactions with bacteria and other microbes in the gut, overreacts to allergens and other environmental triggers.
A research team led by UBC scientists identified four bacteria that appear to be involved with the development of asthma when present in insufficient numbers.
Dubbed F-L-V-R (Faecalibacterium, Lachnospira, Veillonella and Rothia) — these bugs are typically acquired by babies from the environment.
But factors such as being born via a C-section versus vaginal birth, having formula over breastfeeding, and antibiotic use early in life can alter the makeup of “good” bacteria in the digestive system.
Co-lead investigator Brett Finlay, a microbiologist at UBC, says the research supports the hygiene hypothesis that we’re making our environment too clean.
He says it shows that gut bacteria play a role in asthma, but it’s early in life when the baby’s immune system is being established.
The researchers made that determination after analyzing fecal samples from 319 children enrolled in the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) study.
Analysis of stool samples taken at three months of age found that 22 babies shown by allergy testing to be at high risk of asthma had decreased F-L-V-R levels in their gut flora compared to children at low risk.
Asthma affects about 300 million people worldwide, but ironically it is western countries — not poorer, developing countries — where prevalence rates have risen most dramatically since the 1950s.
The disease now affects up to 20 per cent of children in developed countries like Canada.
The study was published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
