According to a new study published in Cell Host & Microbe by researchers at McMaster University, certain bacteria found in the human mouth and gut can break down proteins responsible for triggering peanut allergies.
The good news is that we don’t need to cram our systems with this bacteria. It’s already in the body’s microbiome, living all up inside our mouths and digestive tract. Researchers found that several of these microbes can degrade the two peanut proteins most commonly linked to allergic reactions, known as Ara h 1 and Ara h 2.
Of the bacteria tested, one of them stood out: Rothia aeria is a species found in the mouth. In lab experiments, the microbe was found to almost entirely eliminate both allergen proteins, hinting that it might help reduce the immune response that makes peanut allergies dangerous.
A sudden difficulty breathing is one of those dangers, and sometimes it can be life-threatening. The research team wanted to understand why some people with peanut allergies can tolerate small exposures, leading only to breathing problems, while others suffer reactions so severe that they can die within minutes.
Scientists Collected a Bunch of Spit to Study Peanut Allergies
Peanut allergies affect around two percent of the people in Western countries and are among the most persistent food allergies a person can have, often lasting well into adulthood. Even a minor exposure can trigger symptoms like breaking out into hives or as extreme as anaphylaxis.
To study it, scientists examined bacteria collected from saliva samples of volunteers without food allergies and tested how well those microbes could break down peanut proteins in lab dishes. They also used mouse models with peanut allergies to evaluate how bacteria affected immune responses.
Their findings suggest that people with higher tolerance to peanut exposure generally have more Rothia aeria in their saliva.
This research could eventually lead to probiotic treatments specifically designed to introduce helpful microbes like Rothia aeria into the body that can work alongside approaches already in practice, like oral immunotherapy, the fancy term for gradually exposing patients to small amounts of an allergen to allow their body to develop immunity over time.
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