The perinatal period - a "window of opportunity" for allergy prevention

Allergy is the most common chronic disease of the young.

Tolerance to harmless foreign proteins, “allergens”, normally develops in the perinatal period (late pregnancy and infancy) creating long-term protection from allergy. Diet and microbial exposure regulate this process by modulating infantile immune function.

The project combines expertise in food science/nutrition, metabolomics, immunology and microbiology in order to identify prospective biomarkers for (prevention of) allergy.Goals:i)To identify dietary/microbial metabolites that are (positively or negatively) linked to subsequent allergyii)To explore whether short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) provide the link between a complex gut microbiota and allergy preventioniii)To identify metabolites that promote early B cell maturation, previously associated with allergy preventionMethods: The NICE birth-cohort comprising 655 families with extensive sampling of mothers, fathers and infants, was established through two previous VR grants.

Allergy is/will be diagnosed at 1, 4 and 6-years of age and will now be related to combined analyses of metabolomics, lipidomics and SCFA levels in blood and placental tissue, and to SCFA in feces. Metabolites originating in gut microbiota will be identified using an on-line atlas.

Critical metabolites will be tested in vitro for their effects on B cell maturation.Significance: The project will identify prospective allergy (preventive) biomarkers aiding science-based allergy prevention.