Maturation of the gut microbiome during the first year of life contributes to the protective farm effect on childhood asthma

Depner, Martin; Taft, Diana Hazard; Kirjavainen, Pirkka V.; Kalanetra, Karen M.; Karvonen, Anne M.; Peschel, Stefanie; Schmausser-Hechfellner, Elisabeth; Roduit, Caroline; Frei, Remo; Lauener, Roger; Divaret-Chauveau, Amandine; Dalphin, Jean-Charles; Riedler, Josef; Roponen, Marjut; Kabesch, Michael; Renz, Harald; Pekkanen, Juha; Farquharson, Freda M.; Louis, Petra; Mills, David A.; Mutius, Erika von und Ege, Markus J. (2020): Maturation of the gut microbiome during the first year of life contributes to the protective farm effect on childhood asthma. In: Nature Medicine, Bd. 26, Nr. 11: S. 1766-1775

Abstract

Growing up on a farm is associated with an asthma-protective effect, but the mechanisms underlying this effect are largely unknown. In the Protection against Allergy: Study in Rural Environments (PASTURE) birth cohort, we modeled maturation using 16S rRNA sequence data of the human gut microbiome in infants from 2 to 12 months of age. The estimated microbiome age (EMA) in 12-month-old infants was associated with previous farm exposure (beta = 0.27 (0.12-0.43), P = 0.001, n = 618) and reduced risk of asthma at school age (odds ratio (OR) = 0.72 (0.56-0.93), P = 0.011). EMA mediated the protective farm effect by 19%. In a nested case-control sample (n = 138), we found inverse associations of asthma with the measured level of fecal butyrate (OR = 0.28 (0.09-0.91), P = 0.034), bacterial taxa that predict butyrate production (OR = 0.38 (0.17-0.84), P = 0.017) and the relative abundance of the gene encoding butyryl-coenzyme A (CoA):acetate-CoA-transferase, a major enzyme in butyrate metabolism (OR = 0.43 (0.19-0.97), P = 0.042). The gut microbiome may contribute to asthma protection through metabolites, supporting the concept of a gut-lung axis in humans. Growing up in the rich microbial environment of a farm strongly influences the maturation of the gut microbiome in the first year of life, which helps protect against the development of asthma in children.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Medizin
• Themengebiete: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften > 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
• ISSN: 1078-8956
• Sprache: Englisch