Probiotic as a therapeutic tool in the skin-lung-bowel axis

• Grant number: 19/12324-1
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: May 01, 2020 - April 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems
• Principal researcher: Caroline Marcantonio Ferreira
• Grantee: Caroline Marcantonio Ferreira
• Home Institution: Instituto de Ciências Ambientais, Químicas e Farmacêuticas (ICAQF). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Diadema. Diadema , SP, Brazil
• Assoc. researchers: Marco Aurélio Ramirez Vinolo

Abstract

The incidence and prevalence of chronic inflammatory diseases like asthma and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are rising worldwide, affecting primarily countries with Western lifestyles. Epidemiological data show that there is an important relationship between allergic skin diseases and asthma. Asthma has also been associated to IBD development. Skin, lung and gut are barrier tissues. That protect the organism against pathogens. The mechanisms by which these diseases are related is unclear. It is known that gut microbiota and its metabolic products, such as short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are involved in the development of dermatitis, asthma and IBD but it is not known whether it is responsible for the link between these diseases. Preliminary data suggest that dermatitis leads to changes in the pulmonary and intestinal homeostasis. In this study, our goal is to understand if probiotic strategies may prevent dermatitis from leading to changes in pulmonary and intestinal homeostasis. Firstly, we will evaluate in experimental model the consequences of dermatitis for pulmonary and gut homeostasis, as well as the role of the gut microbiota through the use of germ-free animals. Next, we will evaluate if the treatment with probiotic is able to inhibit the pulmonary and intestinal affection caused by dermatitis. Although immunological regulation by microbiota has been thoroughly studied in isolated parts of the mucosa, studies on the integration of lung and gut mucosa is scant. (AU)