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Objectives and challenges

Food allergy (FA) and asthma are two common childhood conditions that affect billions of Europeans. Suffering from both worsens the prognosis and progression of the allergy. Available data suggests that food allergy and food diet influences the development of asthma and highlights the importance of the connection between the two organs. However, no mechanistic link between the gastro-intestinal and the respiratory tract has been found yet to develop curative and preventive tools of the allergic evolution.

The Principal Investigator (PI) and his Host Institution (INRA, FR) have developed a strong expertise in gut and lung pathophysiology. They have set up a mouse model that mimics the allergic progression and demonstrates the influence of diet during allergy on distal sites of exposure. Using this mouse model of allergic march, we aim to unravel the mystery of allergic response progression from one organ to the other in relation with food diet.

The project Immunological Mechanism of Atopic March (IMAM) aims to identify new preventive and therapeutic diet strategies to combat the allergy and it evolution. It will dissect the mechanisms of allergic progression and distance impact of one allergy on the other. The nature of the gut-lung axis will be investigated i) at the immunological level, by dissecting cell trafficking, ii) at the barrier levels, by investigating its impact on antigen crossing and uptake and iii) at the preclinical level, by developing new approaches to prevent and cure diseases in mouse. All this aspects will be explored in relation with diet. The project will result in a better understanding of the evolution of allergy during life and the impact of diet on the interaction between inflammation sites (especially gut/lung). This will give birth at INRA to a new research axis relying on the promising new discipline of immuno-allergology of the influence of diet on the gut-lung axis.

Partnerships and publications: 

Project leader:Grégory Bouchaud, INRA-BIA, Allergy Team

Partners: INSERM U913 (M. Neunlist), INSERM Team “bronchial diseases and allergy” (A. Magnan)

Publications:

Bouchaud G, Gourbeyre P, Bihouée T, Aubert P, Lair D, Cheminant MA, Denery-Papini S, Neunlist M, Magnan A, Bodinier M. Consecutive Food and Respiratory Allergies Amplify Systemic and Gut but Not Lung Outcomes in Mice. Journal Agriculture and Food Chemistry (2015) Jul 22;63(28). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jafc.5b02338

Roussey-Bihouée T*, Bouchaud G*, Chesné J*, Lair D, Rolland-Debord C, Braza F, Cheminant MA, Aubert P, Mahay G, Neunlist M, Brouard S, Bodinier M and Magnan A. Food allergy enhances allergic asthma in mice. Respiratory Research. (2014) Nov 30;15(1):142. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12931-014-0142-x

Bouchaud G, Braza F, Chesné J, Lair D, Chen KW, Rolland-Debord C, Hassoun D, Roussey-Bihouée T, Cheminant MA, Brouard S, Bodinier M, Vrtala S, Magnan A. Prevention of allergic asthma through Der p 2 peptide vaccination. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2015 Jul;136(1):197-200. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2014.12.1938

Chesné J, Braza F, Chadeuf G, Mahay G, Cheminant MA, Loy J, Brouard S, Sauzeau V, Loirand G, Magnan A. Prime role of IL-17A in neutrophilia and airway smooth muscle contraction in a house dust mite-induced allergic asthma model. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2015 Jun;135(6):1643-1643. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2014.11.038