Sex-specific impact of asthma during pregnancy on infant gut microbiotaOriginal 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?
This study examined whether asthma during pregnancy alters the composition of the infant gut microbiota, with a focus on lactobacilli and other microbes. Infant fecal microbiota were profiled by gene sequencing at 3-4 months of age. The researchers compared microbiota abundance between infants born to mothers with and without asthma treatment during pregnancy, and tested whether these effects differed by infant sex.
Who was studied?
The study drew on 1021 mother-infant pairs from the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) full-term birth cohort. Infant fecal samples were collected and profiled at 3-4 months of age. Covariates examined alongside maternal asthma status included infant sex, maternal ethnicity, pre-pregnancy overweight and atopy status, birth mode, breastfeeding status, and intrapartum antibiotic treatment.
What were the most important findings?
Male, Caucasian infants born to mothers with prenatal asthma had fewer lactobacilli in the gut at 3-4 months of age, independent of birth mode and other covariates. When asthmatic mothers were also overweight before pregnancy, Lactobacillus abundance in male infants was reduced further, while female infants instead showed enrichment of Bacteroidaceae. These sex-specific microbiota differences linked to maternal prenatal asthma status were also more evident in certain subgroups of women, as described in the abstract.
What are the greatest implications of this study?
The findings suggest that maternal asthma during pregnancy shapes infant gut microbiota development in a sex-specific manner, rather than affecting all infants uniformly. Because lactobacilli influence infant growth, reduced lactobacilli in male infants of asthmatic mothers may connect maternal respiratory disease to sex-specific patterns of infant development. Maternal pre-pregnancy weight status appears to compound these effects, pointing to a need for sex-stratified approaches when studying maternal health influences on infant microbiota.