Project Leader:
Brett Finlay

Lead Institution:
University of British Columbia

Research Funding Program:
Canadian Microbiome Initiative (with CIHR)

There is increasing evidence that intestinal microbiota impact on immune development and diseases. Allergic asthma is an ever-increasing problem in developed and affects to 20% of all Canadians. Although there are many theories about the potential cause of actual causes remain undefined.

Recent evidence suggests that shifts in resident microbiota (normal flora) may play a significant role in atopic diseases such as asthma (the so-called hygiene hypothesis. However, the role of the gastrointestinal microbiota in asthma has not been explored experimentally, and no attempt has been made to identify microbial populations affecting asthma. Scientists in this project aim to assemble a strong interdisciplinary team to explore the contribution ofthe microbiota to immune development and the atopic disease asthma in both murine and human hosts. They will employ a well-characterized murine model of asthma to determine how the microbiota affects this disease by varying the microbiota using different antibiotics. The murine immune responses will be monitored following these microbiota shifts.

Moreover, as part of the CHILD longitudinal cohort study, immune analysis will be performed on samples taken from children from birth until 1 year of age.

In correlation with these studies, the composition of the intestinal microbiota will be characterized, and correlated with atopic diseases, as well results from the murine studies. Applied ethical questions associated with these results will also be studied.

Collectively, these approaches will provide key information about the role of the intestinal microbiota in immune development and atopic diseases such as asthma. It will also bring together investigators with very different skills all working on a common problem. Ultimately this information could be used to develop new ways of treating asthma.