Association Between Breastmilk Microbiota and Food Allergy in Infants

Study information

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Folakunmi on 2024-1-17

study design

case-control

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

35096637

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

10.3389/fcimb.2021.770913

URI

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2021.770913/full

Authors

Wang S, Wei Y, Liu L, Li Z

Journal

Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology

Year

2021

Keywords:

breastfeeding, breastmilk microbiome, butyrate, food allergies, infant

Regulating the composition of human breastmilk has the potential to prevent allergic diseases early in life. The composition of breastmilk is complex, comprising varying levels of oligosaccharides, immunoactive molecules, vitamins, metabolites, and microbes. Although several studies have examined the relationship between different components of breastmilk and infant food allergies, few have investigated the relationship between microorganisms in breastmilk and infant food allergy. In the present study, we selected 135 healthy pregnant women and their full-term newborns from a cohort of 202 mother-infant pairs. Among them, 69 infants were exclusively breastfed until 6 mo after birth. At follow-up, 11 of the 69 infants developed a food allergy in infancy while 22 showed no signs of allergy. Thirty-three breastmilk samples were collected within 1 mo after delivery, and 123 infant fecal samples were collected at five time points following their birth. These samples were analyzed using microbial 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The abundance and evenness of the milk microbiota and the number of differential bacteria were higher in the breastmilk samples from the non-allergy group than in those from the food allergy group. The non-allergy group showed relatively high abundance of Bifidobacterium, Akkermansia, Clostridium IV, Clostridium XIVa, Veillonella, and butyrate-producing bacteria such as Fusobacterium, Lachnospiraceae incertae sedis, Roseburia, and Ruminococcus. In contrast, the abundance of Proteobacteria, Acinetobacter, and Pseudomonas in breastmilk was higher in the food allergy group. A comparison of the changes in dominant differential breastmilk microbiota in the intestinal flora of the two groups of infants over time revealed that the changes in Bifidobacterium abundance were consistent with those in the breastmilk flora. Functional pathway prediction of breastmilk microflora showed that the enhancement of the metabolic pathways of tyrosine, tryptophan, and fatty acids was significantly different between the groups. We suggest that changes in the breastmilk microbiota can influence the development of food allergies. Breastmilk contains several microbes that have protective effects against food allergies, both by influencing the colonization of intestinal microbiota and by producing butyrate. This study may provide new ideas for improving infant health through early intervention with probiotics.

Experiment 1

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Folakunmi on 2024-1-17

Curated date: 2023/11/06

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Subjects

Location of subjects: China

Host species Species from which microbiome was sampled. Contact us to have more species added.: Homo sapiens

Body site Anatomical site where microbial samples were extracted from according to the Uber Anatomy Ontology: Milk Mammary gland milk,Milk,milk

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology: Food allergy Food Hypersensitivity,Food intolerance,Food allergy,food allergy

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: non-allergy (NA) group

Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: food allergy (FA) group

Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: Group with food allergy.

Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 22

Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 11

Antibiotics exclusion Number of days without antibiotics usage (if applicable) and other antibiotics-related criteria used to exclude participants (if any): 2 weeks

Lab analysis

Sequencing type: 16S

16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene: V3-V4

Sequencing platform Manufacturer and experimental platform used for quantifying microbial abundance: Illumina

Statistical Analysis

Data transformation Data transformation applied to microbial abundance measurements prior to differential abundance testing (if any).: relative abundances

Statistical test: LEfSe

Significance threshold p-value or FDR threshold used for differential abundance testing (if any): 0.05

LDA Score above Threshold for the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) score for studies using the popular LEfSe tool: 2.0

Matched on Factors on which subjects have been matched on in a case-control study: gestational age, maternal age, race

Alpha Diversity

Shannon Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species richness: unchanged

Chao1 Abundance-based estimator of species richness: decreased

Simpson Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species evenness: unchanged

Richness Number of species: decreased

Signature 1

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Source: Figure 4A

Description: LEfSe analysis between the food allergy (FA) and non-allergy (NA) groups, showing genera with absolute values of linear discriminant analysis (LDA) score.

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Acinetobacter
Pseudomonas
Brevibacterium

Revision editor(s): Davvve, WikiWorks

Signature 2

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Source: fig 4

Description: LEfSe analysis between the food allergy (FA) and non-allergy (NA) groups, showing genera with absolute values of linear discriminant analysis (LDA) score

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Akkermansia
Alistipes
Alloprevotella
Bifidobacterium
Clostridium
Escherichia/Shigella sp.
Lachnospiraceae incertae sedis
Megamonas
Phascolarctobacterium
Prevotella
Romboutsia
Roseburia
Ruminococcus
Veillonella
clostridium XIVaclostridium XIVa
Gemmiger
Blautia
Oscillibacter
clostridium IVclostridium IV
Atopobium
Fusobacterium
Barnesiella
Paraprevotella
Turicibacter
Gp16Gp16
Facklamia
Methanolinea
Thermovirga
Pseudoflavonifractor
Butyricicoccus
Syntrophus
Janibacter
Elusimicrobium
Megasphaera
Enterorhabdus
Mesotoga
clostridium XIVbclostridium XIVb
Gp18Gp18
Odoribacter
Methanobrevibacter
Peptococcus
Geodermatophilus

Revision editor(s): Davvve, WikiWorks