PNAs: Why are you always allergic? Maybe it's the microbes in the gut

September 29, 2018 / BIOON / - in the past few years, scientists have found a link between intestinal microbial disorders and different diseases Now in a new study, researchers from the National Academy of Sciences (CNRS), the National Institute of health and medicine (INSERM), the first university of Lyon in France and NIH in the United States have found a relationship between a virus detection system, intestinal microbial composition and skin allergy Their findings, published recently in PNAS, may lead to new treatments for potential skin allergies Photo source: PNAs the number of microbes living in our digestive tract is 10-100 times that of all the cells that make up our body Our diet and medication can affect the balance of their biological system Various epidemiological data show that the change of intestinal microbial composition is related to allergic diseases (such as eczema) far away from the intestinal tract But so far researchers have not found a theory to explain the link The international team focused on mice lacking the Mavs gene, which plays a key role in the immune system's detection of the virus The researchers found that these mice changed their gut microbes and developed severe skin allergies To reveal the link between the two phenomena, the researchers transferred these altered microbes to normal mice It was found that the latter also had serious allergic reactions, which indicated that these allergic reactions were caused by these transferred microorganisms Next, the researchers found that the change of the intestinal microorganism will lead to stronger intestinal penetration, which enables some intestinal microorganisms to migrate to the kidney and lymph nodes, thus aggravating the severity of skin allergy These findings reveal the unknown role of the antiviral protein Mavs in the maintenance of intestinal microbial homeostasis By showing how changes in gut microbes exacerbate skin allergies, researchers are trying to develop new treatments In the near future, perhaps we can cure eczema or enhance the efficacy of existing therapies by acting on microbes At present, researchers are exploring the effect of this similar method in the intervention treatment of other diseases Reference materials: Emilie plantamura et al Mavs delicacy inducts got dysbiotic microbiota meeting a progressive keynote, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2018) Doi: 10.1073/pnas.1722372115