Asthma is a a disease without a cure. Unfortunately, it is spreading rapidly throughout the world.  With asthma, a person’s lungs do not function normally, and the lungs are a key part of the immune system.Asthma is related to a hyperactive immune system, a system that is gut-centric. Since it can not be cured, the best we can currently do is try to identify it’s causes. This can be very challenging and scientists do not know much about the bacteria inside of us. Being gut-centric implies a direct relationship between the gut microbiome and the immune system.

Asthma Inhaler

Image courtesy of NIAID on Flickr

Recently, a team of scientists proved this direct relationship. Their study discovered that the abundance of FLVR bacterium in a baby’s gut can affect their likelihood of being diagnosed with asthma. The study showed how Canadian children with low levels of FLVR in their feces when they were three months old proved much more likely to get asthma. By the time they reach age one most kids have the same levels of FLVR, this shows how key the timing is. The study then provided mice with extra FLVR, and tried to induce asthma. But, instead of getting inflamed lungs, the mice continued to breathe normally. This displays a potential solution. Scientists now believe that in those first three months of life, FLVR is necessary to properly train the immune system.

I chose to do this study because asthma is a disease that rapidly affects more and more people. The study, discovering a new cause of asthma holds promise. This suggests a possible future cure for asthma. If scientists can use antibiotics to perhaps enhance the levels of FLVR in the early days of children’s lives, perhaps asthma can be cured. This study of the different types of bacteria in the immune system is especially interesting due to our unit on the structure of different types of cells. Learning about the greater, medical application of this particular type of bacteria is especially fascinating. Please feel free to comment below with any thoughts or questions you have regarding this topic.

The original article can be found here.