Gut microbial and faecal immune factors in food allergy: a novel approach for patient stratification

Food allergies are chronic adverse immune responses to otherwise harmless food proteins. Highest rates occur in children who can experience even life-threatening symptoms. Increased permeability of the gut barrier, dysbiosis of the gut microbiome and proinflammatory T2 immune responses are hallmarks of food allergy. Food allergy is a showcase disease to study the crosstalk of gut microbiota and the human immune system at early age. Recently, we showed for the first time that T2 responses to gut microbiota correlated with clinical symptoms of food allergy.

Our study will contribute to the growing evidence of the ‘microbial origin’ of food allergies. The main outcome will be on how reaction phenotypes relate to local anti-commensal T2 responses of the gut. Epithelial barrier damage is a central factor of many inflammatory diseases. By identifying molecular, cellular, and immune aspects, our study features as a blueprint for other diseases, where disrupted epithelia, bacterial translocation, and pathogenic human-microbe crosstalks are key.