The microbiome of premature infants in asthma risk

Premature infants face an increased risk for life-long diseases and treatments. Among the most compromised systems of premature infants is the lung function. In Canada and globally, very premature infants (between 28-32 wks gestation) and extremely premature (less than 28 wks gestation) babies are up to three and four times more likely to develop recurrent wheeze than term infants, respectively. The causes of asthma remain unknown, yet recent exciting findings from infant studies and experimental animal models implicate the large community of microbes (microbiome) in the human gut as one of the causes of this disease. However, despite their heightened risk of asthma, and the more pronounced microbiome alterations linked to prematurity, none of the clinical studies performed to date have included this vulnerable infant population. The influence of the microbiome in health outcomes should be ideally studied combining longitudinal prospective cohort studies and experimental work in animal models. Our team is currently conducting an unique study involving 385 infants at born at different gestational periods (ranging from extreme prematurity to term). Using an extensive sampling scheme of maternal and infant samples and statistical approaches to infer causality, our team will elucidate microbiome-derived features that may implicated with subsequent asthma risk. This analysis will inform studies in relevant animal models of asthma, which will corroborate causality and elucidate cellular and molecular mechanisms involved. This translational, multidisciplinary project is at the critical interface between human clinical studies and experimental animal work, and it has tremendous potential to inform future clinical studies aimed at preventing and/or ameliorating microbiome alterations in the preterm population.