Skin microbiota and allergic symptoms associate with exposure to environmental microbes

Abstract

SignificanceUrban, Westernized populations suffer extensively from noncommunicable diseases such as allergies. However, the overlapping effects of living environment and lifestyle are difficult to separate. Intriguingly, also our fellow animals, dogs, suffer from analogous diseases. Therefore, we suggest that pet dogs, sharing their environment and lifestyle with humans but having a comparatively simple life, provide a valuable model for understanding origins of noncommunicable diseases. We show that living environment and lifestyle concurrently, but still independently, shape both the skin microbiota and the risk of allergic disease in dogs. Urbanized lifestyle, featuring restricted animal contacts and small family size, is allergy promoting both in rural and urban dogs. Hence, both environment and lifestyle seem to influence the microbiota and, probably consequently, immune tolerance.

Early-life inhalant allergen exposure, filaggrin genotype, and the development of sensitization from infancy to adolescence

“…Taken together, our data support the notion that differences in the effects of cat and dog ownership might be a consequence of a cat being a marker of high allergen exposure, whereas the protective effect of dog exposure can be mediated through changes in the skin microbiome. 50 The findings of the current study confirm our previous observation of the changing nature of the association between early-life exposures and sensitization with time and the crucial importance of longitudinal analyses. 15 Furthermore, they raise fundamental questions about the current approach to replication in genetic and gene-environment studies because the timing of the assessment of outcomes can critically affect the results of different studies investigating genes, the environment, and their interactions.…”

Characterization of the otic bacterial microbiota in dogs with otitis externa compared to healthy individuals

“…In both studies, the order of the most common phyla found in affected ears was the same: Firmicutes was the most common, followed by Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria . Although a preliminary study found that the microbial community did not appear to be influenced by individual factors and environment in dogs, several other studies indicate that these factors do affect cutaneous microbiota . This may explain any difference in findings between our two studies .…”

Analysis of the otic mycobiota in dogs with otitis externa compared to healthy individuals

“…First is geographical location, because the dogs sampled in the previous study were presumably recruited from within the state of Texas, USA, whereas the dogs in our study were recruited from the Province of Ontario, Canada. Another study found that the bacterial microbiota of dogs was influenced by their environment and lifestyle . Therefore, it is likely that climate and other geographical factors could influence the composition of the otic mycobiota.…”