20.8.2012: Forschung international

Weniger Allergien dank hoher biologischer Vielfalt

Moins d’allergies grâce à une grande diversité biologique


Ikka Hanski et al.

Forscher und Atemwegspezialisten haben herausgefunden, dass eine hohe Biodiversität im menschlichen Umfeld vor Allergien schützen kann. Stadtbewohner mit einer reduzierten Bakterienflora auf der Haut seien anfälliger als Menschen vom Land. Eine erhöhte Diversität an Hautbakterien hilft offenbar dem menschlichen Abwehrsystem, allergene Stoffe zu bekämpfen.

Des chercheurs et spécialistes des voies respiratoires ont pu montrer qu’un environnement riche en biodiversité protège des allergies. Les citadins dont la flore bactérienne de la peau est réduite sont plus fragiles que les habitants de la campagne. En effet, une diversité élevée de bactéries de la peau aide le système immunitaire humain à lutter contre les substances allergènes.


Rapidly declining biodiversity may be a contributing factor to another global megatrend—the rapidly increasing prevalence of allergies and other chronic inflammatory diseases among urban populations worldwide. According to the “biodiversity hypothesis,” reduced contact of people with natural environmental features and biodiversity may adversely affect the human commensal microbiota and its immunomodulatory capacity. Analyzing a random sample of adolescents we show that environmental biodiversity in the surroundings of the study subjects’ homes influenced the composition of the bacterial classes on their skin. Compared with healthy individuals, atopic individuals had lower environmental biodiversity in the surroundings of their homes and significantly lower generic diversity of gammaproteobacteria on their skin. The functional role of the Gram-negative gammaproteobacteria is supported by in vitro measurements of expression of IL-10, a key anti-inflammatory cytokine in immunologic tolerance, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. These results raise fundamental questions about the consequences of biodiversity loss for both allergic conditions and public health in general.

Quelle: PNAS

Keywords:
Bakterien, Gesundheit, Städte

Art der Publikation:
Fachpublikation

Literatur:
Ilkka Hanskia et al. (2012). Environmental biodiversity, human microbiota, and allergy are interrelated. PNAS. Published online before print, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1205624109
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/05/01/1205624109.abstract

Kontaktadresse:
Ilkka Hanski
Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki
FI-00014 Helsinki
Finland

ilkka.hanski@helsinki.fi


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