An Australian University by the name of Monash University has discovered something life-changing. These researchers have been able to isolate a molecule that has potential to be treated for asthma in children in the form of a dietary supplement. IPA-indolepropionic acid, is a molecule that is produced by the gut bacteria of our body and can have a protective effect on the airways of the lungs. They have also uncovered another alarming fact; that early exposure to antibiotics could be a predisposition to asthma.
Prof Ben Marsland led the research, and the study was published in the journal Immunity. This IPA molecule is capable of providing life-long immunity against asthma and is going to have its own trial someday. The IPA molecule can help with giving us some answers as to why a recurrent use of antibiotics can also increase its asthma risk. Prof Marsland says, “We know that recurrent use of antibiotics early in life disrupts a person’s healthy gut microbiota and increases the risk of allergies and asthma. We have discovered that a consequence of antibiotic treatment is the depletion of bacteria that produce IPA, thus reducing a key molecule that has the potential to prevent asthma. It is shaped first by food intake-both milk and solid foods-as well as genetics, and environmental exposures. Infants at high risk of allergies and asthma have been shown to have a disrupted and delayed mutation of the gut microbiome.”
Asthma is triggered by exposure to house dust mite. What the researchers had discovered is that when the mice were administered antibiotics in their early life, they were susceptible long-term to an allergic inflammation of the airways from house dust mites exposure. This was present even after the gut microbiome and IPA levels were back to normal. This was an indicator that this molecule’s function played out a crucial role in immunity. This refreshes our understanding of childhood asthma.
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