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Come spring, many of us will be sobbing from seasonal allergies. Scientists recently identified some potentially fundamental differences between people with runny nose allergies and those without, and they have to do with nasal fungi.
An international team of researchers says people with allergy-induced colds and asthma have different fungal communities in their noses than people without symptoms. Their findings, detailed in a December 17 report study published in the magazine Frontiers in microbiologycould have important applications for future allergy and asthma treatments.
“We showed that allergic rhinitis samples showed significantly higher fungal diversity and a different fungal community structure compared to those from healthy controls,” Luís Delgado from the University of Porto, who participated in the study, said in a study. Frontiers in microbiology statement. Allergic rhinitis is the medical term for allergy symptoms, such as a stuffy or runny nose, sneezing, itching, and inflammation of the nasal membranes.
“This may suggest that allergic rhinitis increases the diversity and changes the composition of the upper respiratory tract microbiome,” Delgado added. Allergic rhinitis is often related to asthma, which also involves inflammation and obstruction of the airways. Researchers suggest that allergic rhinitis and asthma may be two aspects of the same underlying condition.
The team, which includes researchers from George Washington University, took nasal swabs from 215 patients at an immunology and asthma clinic in Porto, Portugal, in addition to 125 healthy individuals. Of the clinic patients, 155 had allergic rhinitis and asthma, 47 had allergic rhinitis only, and 12 had asthma only.
They then sequenced the fungal DNA from the nasal swabs and “detected common fungi that have been recognized in humans as allergenic or opportunistic fungal pathogens,” Delgado said.
“This confirms at the fungal level what is already known for bacteria: that the nasal cavity is an important reservoir of opportunistic pathogens that can cause allergic rhinitis and asthma,” the researchers wrote in the study. While these pathogenic fungi were discovered in all samples, Delgado and her colleagues found that clinic patients had richer and more diverse fungal communities in their noses than healthy individuals. Additionally, the team saw evidence suggesting that fungi from patients with both respiratory diseases are affecting the immune environment of the nose.
Perhaps more importantly, however, they also found a surplus of 5-aminoimidazole ribonucleotide, a chemical associated with energy metabolism and DNA synthesis, in the noses of patients with both respiratory diseases. The scientists suggest that with further research, this possible association could direct future therapies targeting AIR to treat or diagnose inhalation allergies and asthma.
The team plans to conduct follow-up studies, giving hope to the hundreds of millions of people who tell their friends it really is. just allergies every time they reach for a tissue.
