Atopic dermatitis and skin diseaseLow diversity of the gut microbiota in infants with atopic eczema
Section snippets
Study design
The infants included in this study were part of a larger study in southeastern Sweden between 2001 and 2005 evaluating allergy prevention with the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC 55730.14 In this study the infants received probiotics or placebo daily from day 1 to 3 until 12 months of age. Clinical follow-ups were done at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months of age, and telephone interviews were done at 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, and 18 months of age. A questionnaire was completed on each occasion. Stool
Results
Infants with atopic eczema (ie, IgE-associated eczema) had a lower diversity of the total microbiota and the bacterial phylum Bacteriodetes and its genus Bacteroides at 1 month of age than infants who did not have any allergic manifestation during the 2 first years of life (Table II). The diversity of the phylum Proteobacteria, comprising gram-negative bacteria, was also reduced in the atopic infants, significantly so at 12 months of age (Table II). Furthermore, these phyla and genera differed
Discussion
Using the new high-throughput 16S-based molecular microbiology, we could confirm and extend previous findings that low intestinal diversity during the first month of life is associated with an increased risk of subsequent atopic disease.6, 9, 10 In contrast to previous studies, we could also show that the differences in diversity and relative abundance were attributed to specific bacterial phyla and genera, possibly because the sensitivity of our analyses was higher than in previous diversity
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Cited by (0)
Supported by grants from BioGaia AB, Stockholm, Sweden; the Ekhaga Foundation, the Heart and Lung foundation; the Research Council for the South-East Sweden (grant no. F2000-106); the Olle Engqvist Foundation; the Swedish Asthma and Allergy Association; the Swedish Research Council; the University Hospital of Linköping; the Söderberg Foundation; and the Vårdal Foundation for Health Care Science and Allergy Research, Sweden.
Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: B. Björkstén has received research support from BioGaia AB. M. C. Jenmalm has received lecture honoraria from BioGaia AB. The rest of the authors declare that they have no relevant conflicts of interest.