Altered fecal microbiota composition associated with food allergy in infantsOriginal paper
Karen Pendergrass is a microbiome researcher specializing in microbiome-targeted interventions (MBTIs). She systematically analyzes scientific literature to identify microbial patterns, develop hypotheses, and validate interventions. As the founder of the Microbiome Signatures Database, she bridges microbiome research with clinical practice. In 2012, based on her own investigative research, she became the first documented case of FMT for Celiac Disease, four years before the first published case study.
Read MoreWhat was studied?
Fecal microbiota composition in infants with food allergy compared with healthy controls. The cohort included 34 infants with food allergy, 17 IgE-mediated and 17 non-IgE-mediated, and 45 healthy controls.
How was it studied?
Microbial diversity and composition were profiled using parallel barcoded 454 pyrosequencing targeting the V1-V3 hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene.
What did they find?
Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria were significantly reduced while Firmicutes was enriched in the food allergy group, with Clostridiaceae 1 especially prevalent. Twenty predominant genera differed significantly between groups, and FA-enriched genera such as Enterococcus and Staphylococcus correlated negatively with interleukin-10. Infants with IgE-mediated food allergy had higher Clostridium sensu stricto and Anaerobacter and lower Bacteroides and Clostridium XVIII, and Clostridium sensu stricto correlated positively with serum-specific IgE (R = 0.655, P < 0.001).
Why it matters
Overall microbiota diversity did not differ, but specific phylotype shifts distinguished food allergy infants and separated IgE-mediated from non-IgE-mediated cases. The findings support a role for fecal dysbiosis in food allergy pathogenesis.