The impact of maternal factors on allergy and asthma is the subject of new research in the wake of a grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to a team at Indiana University School of Medicine, according to a university press release.
Researchers led by Joan Cook-Mills, PhD, will examine the mechanisms behind the development of asthma, food allergies, and allergic diseases in children whose mothers had allergies.
“Research from the Cook-Mills lab revealed mothers with allergies have elevated levels of a specific lipid within the eicosanoid class of lipids, suggesting this lipid may have a potential influence on their offspring also developing allergies,” according to the press release.
A 5-year grant for $3.9 million was awarded to extend work by the Cook-Mills lab, and the research will focus on four areas, according to the university:
The potential impact of higher levels of lipid from mothers’ lungs may affect infants’ risk for allergy and whether this lipid is transmitted to infants during pregnancy or breastfeeding.
The potential impact of elevated levels of a specific eicosanoid in mothers with allergies promotes the creation of more dendritic cells by fetal bone marrow and how this might affect allergy risk for infants.
, potentially leading to altered lung bacteria, which can affect immune cell responses to allergies and asthma.
The potential impact of elevated eicosanoids on whether the altered lung microbiome “actively changes the production of this eicosanoid in the lungs of allergic mothers,” according to the press release.
“Allergies and asthma cause a significant burden of disease in our pediatric population, which is further complicated by limited therapies and interventions to combat these diseases, let alone prevent their development,” Anne C. Coates, MD, a pediatric pulmonologist at Maine Medical Center, Portland, said in an interview.
“The work by Cook-Mills and her colleagues will expand our understanding of the role maternal health may have on allergies and asthma and opportunities to mitigate it,” she said. The key implications of the research are the potential to facilitate the development of future clinical studies and trials that could yield novel targeted treatments for significant allergies, Dr. Coates told this news organization.
The research by Cook-Mills and her team had “the potential for the development of transformative approaches to allergy prevention and management, which could improve the health and quality of life for scores of individuals worldwide,” she said.
Dr. Coates had no financial conflicts to disclose but served on the Editorial Advisory Board of Chest Physician.
A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.