Facultad de Medicina

Background: The pathological mechanism of the gastrointestinal forms of food aller-gies is less understood in comparison to other clinical phenotypes, such as asthmaand anaphylaxis Importantly, high-IgE levels are a poor prognostic factor in gastroin-testinal allergies.Methods: This study investigated how high-IgE levels influence the development ofintestinal inflammation and the metabolome in allergic enteritis (AE), using IgE knock-in (IgEki) mice expressing high levels of IgE. In addition, correlation of the altered me-tabolome with gut microbiome was analysed.Results: Ovalbumin-sensitized and egg-white diet-fed (OVA/EW) BALB/c WT micedeveloped moderate AE, whereas OVA/EW IgEki mice induced more aggravated in-testinal inflammation with enhanced eosinophil accumulation. Untargeted metabo-lomics detected the increased levels of N-tau-methylhistamine and 2,3-butanediol,and reduced levels of butyric acid in faeces and/or sera of OVA/EW IgEki mice, whichwas accompanied with reduced Clostridium and increased Lactobacillus at the genus level. Non-sensitized and egg-white diet-fed (NC/EW) WT mice did not exhibit anysigns of AE, whereas NC/EW IgEki mice developed marginal degrees of AE. Comparedto NC/EW WT mice, enhanced levels of lysophospholipids, sphinganine and sphin-gosine were detected in serum and faecal samples of NC/EW IgEki mice. In addi-tion, several associations of altered metabolome with gut microbiome—for exampleAkkermansia with lysophosphatidylserine—were detected.Conclusions: Our results suggest that high-IgE levels alter intestinal and systemic levelsof endogenous and microbiota-associated metabolites in experimental AE. This studycontributes to deepening the knowledge of molecular mechanisms for the developmentof AE and provides clues to advance diagnostic and therapeutic strategies of allergicdiseases

The prevalence and severity of allergic diseases have increased over the last 30 years. Understanding the mechanisms responsible for these diseases is a major challenge in current allergology, as it is crucial for the transition towards precision medicine, which encompasses predictive, preventive, and personalized strategies. The urge to identify predictive biomarkers of allergy at early stages of life is crucial, especially in the context of major allergic diseases such as food allergy and atopic dermatitis. Identifying these biomarkers could enhance our understanding of the immature immune responses, improve allergy handling at early ages and pave the way for preventive and therapeutic approaches. This minireview aims to explore the relevance of three biomarker categories (proteome, microbiome, and metabolome) in early life. First, levels of some proteins emerge as potential indicators of mucosal health and metabolic status in certain allergic diseases. Second, bacterial taxonomy provides insight into the composition of the microbiota through high-throughput sequencing methods. Finally, metabolites, representing the end products of bacterial and host metabolic activity, serve as early indicators of changes in microbiota and host metabolism. This information could help to develop an extensive identification of biomarkers in AD and FA and their potential in translational personalized medicine in early life.

Allergic diseases, such as respiratory, cutaneous, and food allergy, have dramatically increased in prevalence over the last few decades. Recent research points to a central role of the microbiome, which is highly influenced by multiple environmental and dietary factors. It is well established that the microbiome can modulate the immune response, from cellular development to organ and tissue formation exerting its effects through multiple interactions with both the innate and acquired branches of the immune system. It has been described at some extent changes in environment and nutrition produce dysbiosis in the gut but also in the skin, and lung microbiome, inducing qualitative and quantitative changes in composition and metabolic activity. Here, we review the potential role of the skin, respiratory, and gastrointestinal tract (GIT) microbiomes in allergic diseases. In the GIT, the microbiome has been proven to be important in developing either effector or tolerant responses to different antigens by balancing the activities of Th1 and Th2 cells. In the lung, the microbiome may play a role in driving asthma endotype polarization, by adjusting the balance between Th2 and Th17 patterns. Bacterial dysbiosis is associated with chronic inflammatory disorders of the skin, such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis. Thus, the microbiome can be considered a therapeutical target for treating inflammatory diseases, such as allergy. Despite some limitations, interventions with probiotics, prebiotics, and/or synbiotics seem promising for the development of a preventive therapy by restoring altered microbiome functionality, or as an adjuvant in specific immunotherapy.

Composition of the gut microbiota changes during ageing, but questions remain about whether age is also associated with deficits in microbiome function and whether these changes occur sharply or progressively. The ability to define these deficits in populations of different ages may help determine a chronological age threshold at which deficits occur and subsequently identify innovative dietary strategies for active and healthy ageing. Here, active gut microbiota and associated metabolic functions were evaluated using shotgun proteomics in three well‐defined age groups consisting of 30 healthy volunteers, namely, ten infants, ten adults and ten elderly individuals. Samples from each volunteer at intervals of up to 6 months (n = 83 samples) were used for validation. Ageing gradually increases the diversity of gut bacteria that actively synthesize proteins, that is by 1.4‐fold from infants to elderly individuals. An analysis of functional deficits consistently identifies a relationship between tryptophan and indole metabolism and ageing (p < 2.8e−8). Indeed, the synthesis of proteins involved in tryptophan and indole production and the faecal concentrations of these metabolites are directly correlated (r2 > .987) and progressively decrease with age (r2 > .948). An age threshold for a 50% decrease is observed ca. 11–31 years old, and a greater than 90% reduction is observed from the ages of 34–54 years. Based on recent investigations linking tryptophan with abundance of indole and other “healthy” longevity molecules and on the results from this small cohort study, dietary interventions aimed at manipulating tryptophan deficits since a relatively “young” age of 34 and, particularly, in the elderly are recommended.