Gut microbiome modulation by probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics and postbiotics: a novel strategy in food allergy prevention and treatment

Abstract

Food allergy has caused lots of global public health issues, particularly in developed countries. Presently, gut microbiota has been widely studied on allergy, while the role of dysbiosis in food allergy remains unknown. Scientists found that changes in gut microbial compositions and functions are strongly associated with a dramatic increase in the prevalence of food allergy. Altering microbial composition is crucial in modulating food antigens’ immunogenicity. Thus, the potential roles of probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, and postbiotics in affecting gut bacteria communities and the immune system, as innovative strategies against food allergy, begins to attract high attention of scientists. This review briefly summarized the mechanisms of food allergy and discussed the role of the gut microbiota and the use of probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, and postbiotics as novel therapies for the prevention and treatment of food allergy. The perspective studies on the development of novel immunotherapy in food allergy were also described. A better understanding of these mechanisms will facilitate the development of preventive and therapeutic strategies for food allergy.

Keywords:

• Food allergy
• gut microbiome
• postbiotics
• prebiotics
• probiotics
• synbiotics

Author contributions

Jialiu Shi: Data curation; Formal analysis; Writing-original draft; Writing-review & editing. Youfa Wang: Writing-original draft; Lei Cheng: Writing-review & editing. Jin Wang: Supervision; Funding acquisition; Writing-review & editing. Vijaya Raghavan: Writing-review & editing.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

All the authors would like to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China [32102093], Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province [BK20210226], Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for supporting this work.