Association between the gut mycobiome and atopic dermatitis was investigated in 9–12-month-old infants using metagenomics. Two groups of atopic dermatitis infants were classified according to their symptom development as outgrown (recovered) and persisted (still undergoing). The evenness and diversity of the mycobiome in the persisted group were higher than in the healthy and outgrown groups. Dysbiosis of the microbiome in the persisted group was observed by a reduction in the Ascomycota/Basidiomycota ratio. Five fungi were selected as markers from each sample group. In the persisted group, Rhodotorula sp. abundance increased significantly, while Wickerhamomyces sp. and Kodamaea sp. abundance increased in the healthy group, and Acremonium sp. and Rhizopus sp. abundance increased considerably in the outgrown group. Metaproteomic analysis revealed that the persisted group had a high abundance of fungal proteins, particularly those from Rhodotorula sp. Unique proteins such as RAN-binding protein 1 and glycerol kinase from Rhodotorula sp. were hypothesized to be related to atopic dermatitis manifestation in infants.

The infant gut microbiome consists of a complex and diverse microbial community. Comprehensive taxonomic and metabolic functional knowledge about microbial communities supports medical and biological applications, such as fecal diagnostics. Among the omics approaches available for the investigation of microbial communities, metaproteomics-based analysis is a very powerful approach; under this method, the activity of microbial communities is explored by investigating protein expression within a sample. Through use of metaproteomics, this study aimed to investigate the microbial community composition of the infant gut to identify different key proteins playing metabolic functional roles in the microbiome of healthy infants and infants with atopic dermatitis in a Thai population-based birth cohort. Here, 18 fecal samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to conduct taxonomic, functional, and pathway-based protein annotation. Accordingly, 49,973 annotated proteins out of 68,232 total proteins were investigated in gut microbiome samples and compared between the healthy and atopic dermatitis groups. Through differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) analysis, 130 significant DEPs were identified between the healthy and atopic dermatitis groups. Among these DEPs, eight significant proteins were uniquely expressed in the atopic dermatitis group. For instance, triosephosphate isomerase (TPI) inBifidobacteriaceaein the genusAlloscardoviaand demethylmenaquinone methyltransferase (DMM) inBacteroideswere shown to potentially play metabolic functional roles related to disease. PPI network analysis revealed seven reporter proteins showing metabolic alterations between the healthy and disease groups associated with the biosynthesis of ubiquinone and other quinones as well as the energy supply. This study serves as a scaffold for microbial community-wide metabolic functional studies of the infant gut microbiome in relation to allergic disease.

Background: Patients with ELANE variants and severe congenital neutropenia (SCN) commonly develop oral complications. Whether they are caused only by low neutrophil count or the combination of neutropenia and aberrant dental cells is unknown.Methods: Genetic variant was identified with exome sequencing. Dental pulp cells isolated from the SCN patient with an ELANE mutation were investigated for gene expression, enzyme activity, proliferation, colony formation, wound healing, apoptosis, ROS, attachment, spreading and response to lipopolysaccharide.Results: ELANE cells had diminished expression of ELANE and SLPI and reduced neutrophil elastase activity. Moreover, ELANE cells exhibited impaired proliferation, colony forming, migration, attachment and spreading; and significantly increased ROS formation and apoptosis, corresponding with increased Cyclin D1 and MMP2 levels. The intrinsic levels of TGF‐β1 and TNF‐α were significantly increased; however, IL‐6, IL‐8 and NF‐kB1 were significantly decreased in ELANE cells compared with those in controls. After exposure to lipopolysaccharide, ELANE cells grew larger, progressed to more advanced cell spreading stages and showed significantly increased SLPI, TNF‐α and NF‐kB1 and tremendously increased IL‐6 and IL‐8 expression, compared with controls.Conclusion: This study, for the first time, suggests that in addition to neutropenia, the aberrant levels and functions of ELANE, SLPI and their downstream molecules in pulp cells play an important role in oral complications in SCN patients. In addition, pulp cells with diminished neutrophil elastase and SLPI are highly responsive to inflammation.

Gut microbiome plays an essential role in host health, and there is interest in utilizing diet to modulate the composition and function of microbial communities. Copra meal hydrolysate (CMH) is commonly used as a natural additive to enhance health. However, the gut microbiome is largely unknown at species level and is associated with metabolic routes involving short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). In this study, we aimed to analyze, using integrative metagenomics, the predominant species and metabolic routes involved in SCFAs production in the human gut microbiome after treatment with CMH. The effect of CMH treatment on the Thai gut microbiome was demonstrated using 16S rRNA genes with whole-metagenome shotgun (WMGS) sequencing technology. Accordingly, these results revealed that CMH has potentially beneficial effects on the gut microbiome. Twelve predominant bacterial species, as well as their potential metabolic routes, were involved in cooperative microbiome networks under sugar utilization (e.g., glucose, mannose, or xylose) and energy supply (e.g., NADH and ATP) in relation to SCFAs biosynthesis. These findings suggest that CMH may be used as a potential prebiotic diet for modulating and maintaining the gut microbiome. To our knowledge, this is the first study to reveal the predominant bacterial species and metabolic routes in the Thai gut microbiome after treatment with potential prebiotics.

Introduction: With increased diagnostic capabilities and treatment modalities in the field of primary immunodeficiencies (PID), many pediatric patients survive beyond childhood and experience a change of care to the adult-oriented healthcare system. Unfortunately, the transition pathways for PID are less clearly defined, resulting in deterioration of quality of care in adulthood. Hence, this is the first regional study to address PID clinicians’ opinions on practices and challenges of transition care in 7 Southeast Asia (SEA) countries.Methods: We adopted a cross-sectional study design through an online survey platform to enquire opinions of transition practices from expert representatives in 7 SEA countries.Results: Regionally, 3 out 7 countries reported having no practice of transition care. Among cited challenges were reluctant adaptation by patients and caregivers to unfamiliarized adult healthcare systems, inadequate ratio of adult immunologists to patients and lack of facilities for transfer.Discussion and conclusion: Our study provides evidence to advocate policy makers on the importance of standardized integration of transition practice towards betterment of transiting PID patients into adulthood.

The first documented case of oral mite anaphylaxis has recently been reported in Thailand, with mites possibly originating from cooking flour. Our study was designed to assess the effects of cooking flours enhancement and storage conditions on mite proliferation and to provide practical recommendations to prevent mite anaphylaxis. In a factorial experiment, six commercial brands of cooking flours were selected and either inoculated or set free of mites and stored in one of the four containers chosen for the study: original package, plastic bag, plastic box and glass bottle. The resulting experimental units where then stored at either room temperature or in a refrigerator (+4C). In order to determine levels of Der f 1 allergen, 0.1 gram of flour was sampled from each experimental unit and tested by ELISA. Sampling was carried out immediately after inoculation and subsequently at week 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 and 20. Levels of Der f 1 allergen in the inoculated samples increased significantly in all conditions 6 weeks after inoculation (p <0.001) and reached the highest levels at week 8. While experimental units left at room temperature showed higher levels of mite growth (p <0.001), no statistical differences were found among types of containers. The highest amount of Der f 1 was observed for Gogi, followed by Gold Label, tempura flour, corn flour, wheat flour and tapioca starch, respectively (p <0.01). In the context of our experiment, mites preferably grew in cooking flours containing high amounts of wheat at room temperature, particularly after 8 week of storage. According to our results, we thus advise to keep household cooking flour refrigerated and while the type of container does not matter, storage should not exceed 20 weeks.